'My Ministers will get Britain building, including through planning reform, as they seek to accelerate the delivery of high quality infrastructure and housing.' – King's Speech, 17 July 2024
Current Position
Affordable housing under the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is currently defined as 'housing for sale or rent, for those whose needs are not met by the market'. It can include, for example, social rented homes, shared ownership homes and discounted market sale homes (i.e. where homes are sold at a 20% discount to local market value), albeit the latter type does not fall within the statutory definition of social housing under the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008.
Within the regulated social housing sector, there are currently approximately 4.5 million homes in England owned by local authorities and private Registered Providers of social housing, which comprises around 16% of total housing. For reference, in 2000, around 20% of housing was affordable.
Planning Reform Proposals under the Labour Government
Further to the King's Speech, Angela Rayner (Deputy Prime Minister) released a written ministerial statement on 30 July 2024, providing more details on Labour's planning reform agenda. The below relate to affordable housing.
Labour proposes to:
- build 1.5 million homes over the next five years that are high-quality, well-designed and sustainable. Housing targets are increased from 300,000 new homes to 370,000 new homes per year. The Labour Party have hinted at focusing particularly on introducing new towns, which will require greater investment in wider infrastructure;
- in order to meet housing targets, make changes to the green belt release advising that local authorities will have to review the green belt if needed to meet housing targets and prioritise low quality grey belt land. Grey belt land is currently land that the government has previously brandished as 'poor quality and ugly areas' on parts of the green belt. Currently, the green belt currently covers around 13% of England;
- work with Homes England to make changes to the Affordable Homes Programme (further details are awaited);
- support local councils and housing associations by setting out plans to give longer term rent stability to encourage more investment in affordable housing;
- recruit 300 additional planning officers in a bid to speed up the planning process; and
- review the Right to Buy Scheme, namely reviewing the increased right to buy discounts that were introduced in 2012, plans to consult in the autumn on wider reforms and immediately increasing flexibilities for councils when using Right to Buy receipts.
Labour has published a consultation on a revised NPPF which closes on 24 September 2024. The scope of the proposed changes includes identifying grey belt land within the green belt. Where land is released from the green belt, the government is proposing a target of 50% affordable housing on such land with a particular focus on social rent.
Proposed Planning and Infrastructure Bill
Labour has also promised a long-term housing strategy and spending review as well as hinting at introducing a Planning and Infrastructure Bill. The Bill will:
- reform planning committees so that they focus on the right applications with the necessary expertise;
- further reform compulsory purchase compensation rules so that what is paid to landowners is fair;
- enable local authorities to put their planning departments on sustainable footings;
- streamline the delivery process for critical infrastructure; and
- provide any legal underpinning that may be needed to ensure that nature recovery and building works hand-in-hand.
Conclusion
Some have argued that Labour's plans are a promising start but fail to address larger issues, such as how to source the infrastructure required to support the number of homes to be built over the next five years.
Any possible impact of the above proposed planning reforms on the legal planning process (if any) is not yet clear.
