How will Labour "get Britain building again"?

As part of the new government’s pledge to deliver 1.5 million homes over the next five years, Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, has announced reforms which make “a significant step to getting Britain building again”. 

They have increased the national housing target, to 370,000 homes per annum, with a revised calculation for housing need and imposed housing targets on local authorities.  The proposals for allowing some housing on ‘grey belt’ sites “in sustainable locations” and that “make a limited contribution to the five Green Belt purposes”, will also be of interest to developers where a need arises and the areas are not protected.  

Whilst this may unlock the provision of some housing, including a significant proportion of affordable housing, what impact this is likely to have on the contribution towards the housing target is yet to be seen, and undoubtably will lead to a number of test legal cases we expect.  

The revised National Planning Policy Framework sets out government's planning policies and was published on 12th December 2024.  In addition to general changes seeking to increase housebuilding, there is significant reform for development within the Green Belt utilising ‘grey belt’ land.  Requirements include that:  

• Development would not fundamentally undermine the purposes of the remaining Green Belt. 
• There is lack of a five year supply of deliverable housing sites or where the Housing Delivery Tests was below 75% of the housing requirement over the previous three years.  Notably a number of Councils with fairly recently adopted plans will still be below the 75% HDT threshold.
• The development would be in a sustainable location.
• The development meets ‘Golden Rules’ including 50% affordable housing in most cases, improvements to infrastructure and new and improved green spaces.

In terms of the speculation over what might be ‘grey belt’, this has been confirmed as: 
“previously developed land and/or any other land that, in either case, does not strongly contribute to any of purposes (a), (b), or (d) in paragraph 143.” Namely preventing sprawl, towns merging or the setting of historic towns.

‘Grey belt’ however excludes National Landscapes (formerly AONB), National Parks, irreplaceable habitats and designated heritage assets.

There are plans to increase planning application fees for those proposing house extensions by 105%, on top of a 25% rise just last year.  This will bring the statutory fee to £528 which is not far short of that for a new house (£578).  A date for the introduction of the legislation is yet to be set.  We welcome the encouragement of additional planning department resource, as delays at local councils can be frustrating at times, but this increase in fees could be prohibitive to some.  If you are considering extending it is probably better to get your application submitted sooner rather than later.

Should you need any planning advice contact our Chartered Town Planners who would be delighted to assist.