Gove announces planning reforms in speech at RIBA HQ

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has announced the second phase of its Long-Term Plan for Housing, launched in July 2023.

Speaking at the headquarters of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) at 66 Portland Place, London, the Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, said that the changes would speed up the planning system, and outlined the Government’s response to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill: reforms to national planning policy consultation.

RIBA Chair of Board Jack Pringle gave opening remarks before welcoming the Secretary of State onto the stage in the RIBA Gallery.

Photo: RIBA

He said the focus on ensuring that we build more new homes, alongside the infrastructure needed to sustain our communities, is to be applauded.

“New measures to tackle delays in the planning process and ensure that local authorities have clear plans in place are long overdue,” he continued.

“The Secretary of State has recognised the important role of architects and planners, but this must be backed with further resource. Delivering high-quality, sustainable and genuinely affordable new homes will require more skilled expertise in overstretched local planning departments. As was acknowledged, to do this we must ensure fees paid for planning applications are invested back into the system.

“We look forward to seeing further detail on today’s announcements and will continue to work with the Government to deliver homes and places in which people can thrive. Our planning system is an impediment to badly needed development at local, national and infrastructure levels. We need to move to a simpler, faster planning system with more predictable outcomes.”

Clive Betts, Chair of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC) Committee, said there is a national shortage of housing in England but the Secretary of State’s speech didn’t provide clarity on how to achieve the national housing target of building 300,000 net new homes per year by the mid-2020s.

“For all the talk of getting tough with local authorities, without mandatory local housing targets, it’s not clear how many houses will need to be built in local areas to deliver the national target,” he said.

“Often objections to developments are about concerns of a lack of infrastructure – are there enough schools, GPs, parks, and recreation spaces to help support the residents of new homes? The Secretary of State didn’t spell out any plans to bring forward this investment in local services and amenities or how it would be paid for.

“The 35% urban uplift figure is apparently arbitrary, not calculated based on local housing need in the areas where it applies, and the Government has failed to take the opportunity today to spell out how this will deliver more housing.

“Councils are hit by a range of financial pressures and there is a pressing need for additional resources for local planning authorities to ensure the planning system works efficiently. The Government must ensure local planning authorities have the investment and specialist skills to help speed up the planning process.”

The Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC) Committee published a report in July on the Government’s proposed reforms on the Government’s planning reform proposals. The report found that the Government had not provided sufficient evidence to demonstrate how the policy of scrapping mandatory local housing targets will directly lead to more housebuilding. While the Government is on track to deliver 1 million new homes over the course of this Parliament, it is not forecast to deliver 300,000 net new homes per year by the mid-2020s.