The Home Builders Federation has welcomed the “suggested draft” of recommendations to the government drawn up by the National Planning Policy Framework Practitioners Advisory Group, but stressed the importance of ensuring the final government document reflects the scale of the UK’s housing crisis.
According to the HBF, as the country experiences a chronic housing shortage and first-time buyers are at a record low level, the planning system needs to become truly pro-growth.
The document proposes local authority planning frameworks should be simplified into a single local plan document and puts an emphasis on economic growth, but says that this does not contradict the environmental role of planning. The draft also suggests that local planning authorities should retain a sequential approach to applications for retail and leisure uses not in an existing town centre.
It adds that councils should undertake an assessment of the need to expand defined town centres to ensure a sufficient supply of sites to meet the needs of business.
The HBF said these recommendations make a considerable contribution, on which government can build as it finalises its own draft NPPF for consultation in July. However, it is crucial that the definition of “sustainable development” reflects the huge economic benefits of housing provision, as well as the vital social role housing plays for children, families and older generations.
Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of HBF, said: “The NPPF will be the most important planning document since the Town and Country Planning Act of 1947 and it is vital that the government gets it right.
“If government is serious about tackling our housing crisis, now is the time to prove it. It needs to deliver a planning system that creates real economic growth alongside the homes our country desperately needs.”
james.a.kenny@estatesgazette.com
