The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) consultation proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework that sets out the UK Government’s planning policies and how local authorities are expected to apply them. A response is expected by Spring 2023, with the intention of the new National Planning Policy Framework to be part of this.
An opportunity to increase the number of homes
Propertymark called for the continuation of local authorities to demonstrate a deliverable five-year housing land supply, for planning policy and guidance to be made clearer on what may constitute an exceptional circumstance for the use of an alternative approach for assessing local housing needs and for green belt areas to not have to be continually reviewed apart from in critical need of undersupply of housing.
For local authorities to meet their housing need, we called for assessments of short-term lets in tourism hotspots, analysis of the percentage of homes that are affordable in comparison to the average income of a given region to ensure that sufficient properties are available for homeowners and additional funding to boost homes in some parts of England to ensure the UK Government meets their levelling up agenda.
Speeding up delivery
We outlined our support for developers to be incentivised to build quicker. This will help the housing supply meet demand more effectively depending on local needs. Improved data and for the UK Government to publish delivery rates of developers of a certain size to improve transparency are also needed.
However, recognising the scale of the challenge and the number of new homes needed, Propertymark will continue to call for the quality of homes to be high. The public is far more likely to accept large-scale house building if the quality is high and as far as possible within the character of local communities.
Boosting economic growth
Central to the UK Government’s levelling up agenda must be building homes in the right areas so that there are more attractive places to move to will ensure that there is adequate housing for people to live long term.
The agenda should also certify developers build attractive homes across and give people greater choices about where they live and work. This is fundamental to ensuring that regions of stagnant growth can level up. The UK Government should consider linking the Framework to areas that have been prioritised through the Levelling Up Fund. Regions that require additional homes or commercial developments will need local plans and a national framework that helps to facilitate their proposals and generate greater economic growth and productivity.
