The Government has vowed that “seismic reforms” in its new Planning and Infrastructure Bill will help get families out of temporary accommodation.

It believes that speeding up planning decisions will boost housebuilding and deliver the promised 1.5 million homes needed to tackle the housing crisis.

These decisions will be streamlined through a new structure, setting out which types of applications should be determined by planning officers and which should go to council committee, along with a ban on large and unwieldy committees, and mandatory training for committee members.

Councils will also be able to set planning fees to cover their costs. The stretched system currently runs at a deficit of £362million and raised money will be reinvested back into the system to speed it up.

Other reforms

Other measures include improving the compulsory purchase process so that developments delivering public benefits can progress.

The reforms will ensure compensation paid to landowners is not excessive and should speed up the process of using directions to remove ‘hope value’ - the value attributed to the prospect of planning permission being granted for alternative development.

Where there are no objections, inspectors, councils or mayors will make decisions instead of the Secretary of State.

Development corporations will be strengthened to make it easier to deliver large-scale works, while the Bill also introduces a system of strategic planning across England by working across multiple local planning authorities.

Housing Secretary Angela Rayner (pictured) said lifting this bureaucratic burden will create the biggest building boom in a generation. “It will help us to deliver the 1.5 million homes we have committed to so we can tackle the housing crisis we have inherited head on - not only for people desperate to buy a home, but for the families and young children stuck in temporary accommodation and in need of a safe, secure roof over their heads,” she added.

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Commenting on the Bill, Chris Scudamore, of PwC, described it as an “overdue step in removing obstacles”.

He said: “The Bill signals a 21st century overhaul of planning and infrastructure, and a recognition that the planned developments are on a scale and built at a pace not seen in recent decades in the UK; that will require prioritisation, significant support and different perspectives and delivery methods.  

“The measures in the Bill are an overdue step in removing obstacles and accelerating the planning stage of infrastructure projects, which will bring far-reaching benefits to communities, investors and the economy. To realise these benefits and the ambitions set out in the Bill, the Government must now impact assess the proposed changes on the entire planning and infrastructure delivery system, and treat this package of measures as an industry wide transformation.”

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