Chancellor announces the return of mandatory housing targets: how will this affect the planning system?

The new chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has announced that mandatory housing targets are coming back. In her first speech, the chancellor focussed on dealing with housing issues as a means of igniting sustained economic growth. 

This article highlights the key proposals for the planning system from the chancellor’s speech. We also provide insight on Labour’s plans to prioritise brownfield development and review greenbelt boundaries.

Of course, in a speech from a chancellor a number of issues were raised concerning growth and prosperity generally, but as the chancellor said:

Harsh words indeed for the planning system, but reflecting the Labour Party’s much talked about desire to fix (or perhaps repair) the well known issues that many sectors, including housebuilding, have been experiencing. There appears to be a general consensus that the proposals in the general election manifesto are to be supported, although the devil will, as ever, be in the detail. Following the chancellor’s speech, we now know that:

1. Onshore wind ‘as of now’ will be brought in from the cold in England with an end to the ‘absurd ban’ on those projects that has hung around for too long. Not only that, but it such projects of sufficient scale will benefit from the nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs) consenting regime allowing for national rather than local decisions. Energy projects generally will get priority to make sure they ‘make swift progress’ and a spatial energy plan will be prepared.
2. Keenly anticipated, there will be a consultation this month issued on revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). This consultation will ask for views on ‘a new growth-focused approach to the planning system' and that will include new mandatory housing targets.
3. Up to 300 new planning officers will be appointed. A drop in the ocean perhaps, but certainly a step in the right direction. For those regularly engaging with planning, more and improved resourcing of planning authorities is surely high on the list of most people’s proposed fixes.
4. A new taskforce will be created to look at and accelerate stalled sites, with initial target developments named. What that actually looks like remains to be seen.

The chancellor has also confirmed that the deputy prime minister will be issuing a letter to planning authorities, emphasising the need to have nationwide coverage of local plans (another problem that seems to have stuck due to a lack of up to date local policies), prioritising brownfield development and the need to review greenbelt boundaries. 

These are positive first steps towards delivering on the manifesto pledges made, including building 1.5 million homes over the next five years. Labour proposes to build 300,000 a year, similar to previous targets. 

Addressing green belt too feels like a brave step. Brownfield land will understandably and expectedly be the priority and it is not the first time we have heard that, but an acceptance of the view that not all green belt is worthy of the high protections currently in place is refreshing. That ‘grey belt’ land could provide an important contribution to housing delivery. While there are no formal statistics on grey belt land, figures as at March 2023 show that greenbelt land comprises 12.6% of the total land area of England and of that, 93.1% has not been previously developed.

The chancellor’s speech sets a bold tone for future reform of the planning system. Much has been promised previously, fundamental reform during the tenure of Boris Johnson for example, but at least in these early days there are positive steps to make changes for the better.

Read the transcript of the chancellor’s speech here. For further information, please contact the planning & infrastructure consenting team.