Housing Minister confirms upcoming policy changes and consultation dates

Speaking at the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee, the Housing Minister, Matthew Pennycook, provided details on various housing policy issues based around ensuring the stability of regulation and allowing the sector to push on with delivering new homes.

Pennycook confirmed that the Government plans to consult on proposals for new National Development Management Policies at an unspecific time next year which will deal with development control aspects of the planning system. The Minister emphasised that the Government is not making substantive changes in this way but is instead looking to “streamline” some aspects of the system. This will be followed by the release of a “slimmed-down” version of the National Planning Policy Framework which will be focused solely on plan-making.

The Minister also made clear during the session that the Government would not hesitate to intervene on planning applications even before they have been heard by councils “where they meet the published criteria, and we think there is a reason to act” but made a distinction that they would not do so for what he called “highly political reasons”.

Notably, Pennycook admitted that delivering the Government’s promise to build 1.5 million homes is going to be “more difficult than we expected in opposition” while refusing to establish an annual target for housing delivery, insisting it would be delivered across the whole Parliament. However, he did set a vague deadline by saying that the housing sector would begin to see the results of their changes over “the next year or two”.

Pennycook highlighted that part of the reason for this difficulty in delivery is that there is a “missing tier of planning” and that the Government would be introducing a more effective mechanism for cross-boundary strategic planning that will be rolled out across England by the end of this Parliament. This mechanism would be the introduction of a requirement for authorities to work together to produce spatial development strategies and would be delivered by a Metro Mayor in areas that have one.

For more information and analysis on the Government’s planning changes and how it will affect you, contact [email protected] and we will be happy to help.