The new UK government wasted no time in putting a focus on planning reform when coming into power. Placing a focus on unlocking development opportunities for national benefit and on setting housing targets, the move has been so far met with widespread approval – with further details expected imminently. Planning reform is just the start – and development needs to look beyond just new homes and look at wider town and city placemaking if it wants to make a real difference. Our Development Director Jonathan Parker discusses.
By unblocking the planning process, the reforms aim to expedite development projects. There’s no doubt this has been an eagerly anticipated move by many and has the potential to make a difference into the future. A further promising step was the announcement of more than 300 new planners for departments up and down the country – though the specifics of their deployment and training remain to be detailed, which will determine how quickly the impact of their addition will be felt.
While the planning reforms are a crucial element of successful future development, they are one piece of a much larger puzzle. Addressing the housing crisis is going to need a comprehensive approach, not just a sticking plaster, and so while planning reform can certainly streamline timescales, it does not address the underlying issues once projects move beyond the planning stage.
The focus on housing was always going to be a headline item for whichever party gained power in the election. The model of setting housing targets – especially mandatory ones – is driven by the traditional goal of people moving from rental properties and into homeownership. Of course, this is a positive goal for people around the country, but it does create a natural emphasis on the construction on new homes.
What impact could this have on developers?
For many developers, this puts emphasis on maximising their profits – but this model risks overshadowing the critical need for social and affordable housing, never mind the topic of converting existing buildings into new homes to assist with regeneration and the continued work to decarbonise the UK’s building stock.
With such focus on building new, there is risk of resources being diverted from increasing social housing stock. Local authorities, faced with inadequate funding, may be forced to sell land to developers, which are less likely to prioritise social housing due to its lower profit return.
To address the issues, a fair and equitable allocation of funding is going to be absolutely essential, whether through ‘levelling up’ initiatives, infrastructure investments, or other financial supports. Such funding must be distributed fairly across the country, weighted to where it is needed the most to benefit the maximum number of people from government investment.
How should local authorities move forward with this in mind?
The answer lies in a place-based approach that focuses on holistic development including both social housing and commercial assets. Successful examples of such development demonstrate significant benefits – both in terms of economy and social value.
Given the varied nature of local authority assets, some of which may be small, less practical or even stranded, a place-based strategy offers a more comprehensive outcome for communities and businesses. Collaborative regeneration schemes where local authorities partner with developers are growing in number across the country as understanding grows of the better commercial and social returns on investment such partnerships can yield.
For local authorities, choosing development partners wisely will be the key to success, so a compliant and secure procurement process is highly recommended. This provides the local authority with the developer most suitable to make the partnership a success, but also comes with the added compliance and transparency that proper procurement processes provide – and indeed are championed even more in the forthcoming Procurement Act.
How can we help?
Our own Developer-Led Framework is the only solution available on the market to procure development partners, with a continually increasing pipeline full of such large-scale regeneration and development partnership opportunities throughout the UK.
Planning reform will undoubtedly help all schemes coming down the pipeline, with the initial changes announced by the Chancellor being a positive start – but it is just the start and there’s plenty more to come. The ultimate goal is to improve towns and cities around the country, creating suitable housing opportunities while boosting local economies and enhancing social value. The journey ahead requires a concerted effort to ensure that these reforms work with funding and other incoming policies and lead to sustainable, long-term improvements in communities nationwide.
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