The Challenges Facing Local Authority Planning in 2023 and Beyond

Posted by The Landsite on 3rd March 2023 -

The evolution of the UK’s built environment is largely determined by central policies cascading down to local authorities from central government. This, of course, puts a reliance on the government’s annual budget to provide direction. The recent turmoil within Westminster has left the planning sector with a lack of clarity over the future of planning regulations.

Affordable Housing 

Under the ‘brief’ Truss administration, plans were taking shape to boost house-building and drive property development growth. One of the central measures was a rise in the threshold at which affordable homes must be built, from sites with ten houses to those with 40 or more units. Amongst other changes, ministerial discussions took place around expanding permitted development rights, allowing homeowners to build extensions or add extra floors without planning permission. Given the new administration is still taking shape, at the time of writing, we need to focus on the wider planning challenges and existing government policies. The Government intends to introduce a variety of measures to ensure that planning enforcement works more effectively.

The central government guidance and legislation over planning is covered by the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) which was first introduced in March 2021 which had its most recent revision in July 2021.

Despite all the changes and tinkering with the NPPF, the central challenge remains the increases in residential property values, driven in large part but the lack of supply and lower than expected new homes construction. The increase in supply of new homes should help to stabilise residential values which are making it harder for people to buy their own home. This leads to the arguments around sustainability and the use of land – green belt and brown field usage have been debated for decades but at no time has this been a more essential part of planning policy than in the coming years.

The UK High Street 

At the other end of the property scale, commercial high street unit values have been coming under pressure for many years driven by the rise in online shopping and the ensuing lower footfalls. The UK has the second highest online retail sales, proportionate to total retail sales, in the world. In the first half of 2021, over 5,000 chain stores closed, with 70% being in high streets.

These two challenges of supply and demand, resulting in residential values rising versus the challenges of the high street, lead to a partial solution based on proposals for high streets to be transformed with relaxed urban planning and an increase in town centre residential units.

The government’s Levelling Up White Paper sets out three initiatives designed to reverse the trend:

• High Streets Strategy: this makes it easier to convert empty shops to new uses, such as homes. It grants automatic rights for pubs, restaurants, and cafes to allow takeaway and al fresco dining. 
• Temporary business rates relief of £1.7bn: until the end of 2023 combined with a five-year freeze in the business rates multiplier.
• High Streets Task Force: helping communities regenerate their high streets in step with evolving needs.

Developers throughout the UK welcome the Government’s aspirations for an efficient, well-resourced planning system that supports local involvement in designing, planning and creating great places for current and future generations.

Find planning consultants on The Landsite

---

Source information, guides and services for land 

Discover more real estate services and property listings

 

Read more articles  in TLS Insights magazine - Your #1 source for real estate trends, data and insight.