Is It Time To Reform Planning Laws?

[youngmafbog]

My guess is that the Government want to kick start the construction industry and thereby provide employment for many.

However, is relaxing the planning application going to do this? Personally I do thing planning is a bit of a problem and a rip off by the Council but it is an evil that is required relaxing it could lead to poor housing in the wrong place and no proper infrastructure to support it - think schools, hospitals Police/Fire etc.

IMHO we should be looking at redevelopment of Brown field sites so maybe relax some of those applications, bearing in mind what I mentioned above. The big problem here is the astronomical tax put on skips, it is a crazy amount and needs to be reduced to zero.

Then there is the other problem. I know from personal experience there are still problems with getting materials. Plaster is still like rocking horse poo and many other items are in short supply so until that is all sorted there is no point in amending the planning.

All in all I dont think the Government really know what goes on outside of the big business that their sponsors are.


https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-housing/britain-targets-red-tape-in-bid-to-get-more-homes-built-idUKKCN25133I

[jackthehat]

Although some areas of Planning Law will be relaxed, others will be tightened up. This won't turn into the bun-fight for development that some may think.

Local Planning Authorities have long-needed to consider the 'bigger picture' when it comes to making Planning decisions and have, for far too long, been seduced by the short-term promises made by big companies.

I am looking forwards to seeing a real shake-up and an increase in affordable homes being created rather than the proliferation of 'executive' homes' with a small number of token starter-homes which is the weay things are proceding at present.

[mushroom25]

any revision to planning law needs to persuade councils to look very hard at estates that spring up without easy access to any amenities, and can only be accessed by car. the brand new estate my daughter lives on has no shops, GP surgery, dentist or school. despite being safe enough to cycle and walk around, the only access to the estate is via a narrow lane with no paths and hedges both sides. There's also no bus and never likely to be, because the only safe way in or out is by car, without which the residents cannot function.

[Zacs-Master]

This isn't a short term proposal. I'm pretty sure the 'plasterboard crisis' will be over by the time it's implemented. Local authorities have 2 years to identify zones where planning applications can be virtually rubber-stamped. It's only at consultation stage at the moment and there's a hope that it may be implemented by the end of theis Govts term. The actual facts here if you care to trawl thru it.....
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/907245/MHCLG_PlanningConsultation.pdf

[Old_Geezer]

My first thought was, what type of buildings are going to be slung up where, now ? It seems high risk. Although those looking to accumulate wealth quickly, with few hoops to jump through, will be pleased.

[youngmafbog]

"I'm pretty sure the 'plasterboard crisis' will be over by the time it's implemented. "

You may mock - and it's plaster thats the problem - but if you have to turn down work it really is not funny.

[jackthehat]

ZM isn't mocking he's pointing out, quite correctly, that the present supply shortages will have long-passed by the time these proposals come to fruition.

[sevenOP]

Housing minister Jenrick said "Planning decisions will be simple and transparent, with local democracy at the heart of the process.”

Sounds good on the transparency front Jenrick, some people warrant deep scrutiny:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/robert-jenrick-richard-desmond-property-development-tory-donor-cash-favours-a9568496.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Jenrick#Controversies

"with local democracy at the heart of the process.”

How? with local plebiscites before building commences.

[Zacs-Master]

Thanks, JTH. Ironic how YMB chooses to pick up the fact that I've pointed out the error in timescales as a way to have a bit of a niggle. Wonder if he's read the document yet?

[andy-hughes]

It sounds wonderful.

There will be more examples of a proposed estate one house away from where I live -

the site is on a flood plain and a protected nature reserve, with objections raised on that basis, plus a traffic survey proving that the additional 700+ vehicles leaving out of the only axis road onto the existing estate will cause traffic chaos, as well as danger to the wheelchair residents of the four nursing homes within a quarter of a mile, who wheel seriously disabled patients out and cross the access road regularly.

The junction objection was passed by an outside Inspector who didn;t even visit the junction, but took the developers' (incorrect) measurements as gospel, and a four year fight by local residents was waved away by the council adhering to the existing government mantra to build more houses.

That means we get an estate built on a greenfield flood plain with a potentially lethal flow of traffic, while, at the time the plan was passed, there was combined brownfield sites across the city whose combined land area equals the town of Milton Keynes.

With Boris's 'Build Build Build!!!' notion sweeping away even the notion of objection, we can look forward to this sort of mess occurring regularly across the UK.

[mushroom25]

there's a neighbourhood in Swindon called Rushy Platt. the owners of some nice looking properties there complain about the flooding every time it rains a little harder than usual. but just wondering what the new residents thought a place called Rushy Platt might be like...… possibly low lying and wet? you have to feel sorry for anyone whose home is ruined by filthy water, but not when they've not done their homework.

[sevenOP]

Yes, reform and careful oversight of Planning Laws are a great idea.

"The Conservatives have received more than £11 million from some of the UK’s richest property developers and construction businesses since Boris Johnson became prime minister last July, an openDemocracy investigation has found... Just six leading Tory donors linked to the property sector gave more than £4.5 million since July – a four-fold increase in their donations from the final year of Theresa May’s premiership... Many of the property tycoons who have donated to the Conservatives in the past year would qualify to become part of the Leader’s Group of top donors where, for a minimum of £50,000 a year, they can attend quarterly meetings with the prime minister and senior cabinet ministers. Conversations are off the record... Leader’s Group donors had given more than £130 million to the Conservatives since 2010... Malcolm and Eddie Healey – dubbed “East Yorkshire’s richest men” in the local press -have donated £1.1 million to the Conservatives between them since July..."

https://cdn-prod.opendemocracy.net/media/images/rsz_pa-48771267.max-760x504.max-760x504.jpg

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/exclusive-property-tycoons-gave-tories-more-than-11m-in-less-than-a-year/

[tomus42]

This is all probably because Dominic Cummings was refused planning permission for something or other and has been seething about it for the last ten years.