LONDON: UK Chancellor George Osborne and Business Secretary Sajid Javid plan to overhaul planning laws to accelerate housing construction as a shortage of new homes drives up prices.
The proposals to be unveiled on Friday includes a “zonal” system that will give automatic planning permission on certain so-called brownfield sites, the Treasury in London said in a statement. It will also give the government greater compulsory-purchase power and more authority to intervene with planning decisions of local authorities.
Home construction has failed to keep up with demand as the U.K. population increases and government measures spur purchases. Homebuilders and industry analysts have cited slow planning decisions by local authorities as a reason that building has fallen short. The new plans would allow the government to penalize local councils that make fewer than 50 percent of their planning decisions on time.
“The raft of planning announcements today really hit the nail on the head for a number of planning issues,” Melanie Leech, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said in a statement Friday. “However, we strongly urge government to begin a dialogue with both the public and private sectors on how to address the severe shortage of funds which is afflicting local planning departments.”
The government proposals also include devolving planning powers to the mayors of London and Manchester and it will require higher-density development around key commuter hubs. In London, the changes would remove the need for a homeowner to get planning permission to extend their property to the height of an adjoining building.
England needs about 245,000 new homes a year to keep up with growing demand, Bloomberg Intelligence reported, citing the National Housing Federation. On average, about 115,000 properties were completed in each of the last five years.
There is enough previously developed land, known as brownfield, in England to build 226,000 homes by 2019, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said in April.
