Keir Starmer vows to override planning 'blockers' with sweeping changes that could see building on green belt

12 December 2024, 00:22 | Updated: 12 December 2024, 01:51

Keir Starmer has vowed to override planning "blockers" with sweeping changes that could see building on parts of England's green belt.

The shake-up will see councils given mandatory targets to deliver a total of 370,000 homes a year in England.

It comes as the PM and Angela Rayner have pledged to build 1.5 million homes and make decisions on 150 major infrastructure projects this parliament.

Sir Keir promised to "overhaul the broken planning system", with Ms Rayner saying the question is now where, not whether, homes would be built.

The updated national planning policy framework (NPPF) will commit to a "brownfield first" strategy, with disused sites that have already been developed in the past prioritised for new building.

The default answer when a developer seeks to build on brownfield sites will be "yes".

But councils will also be ordered to review their green belt boundaries to meet targets. They will need to identify lower quality "grey belt" land that could be built on.

Read more: Rayner takes on the NIMBYs: New moves to stop towns and villages objecting to government infrastructure plans

Read more: Homes on green belt: Rachel Reeves sets out homebuilding plans to boost growth in first speech as Chancellor

Any development on green belt land must comply with new "golden rules", which require developers to provide infrastructure for local communities, such as nurseries, GP surgeries and transport, as well as a higher level of social and affordable housing.

"With a generation of young people whose dream of homeownership feels like a distant reality, and record levels of homelessness, there's no shying away from the housing crisis we have inherited," Sir Keir said.

He added: "Our plan for change will put builders not blockers first, overhaul the broken planning system and put roofs over the heads of working families and drive the growth that will put more money in people's pockets."

Around 1.3 million households are on social housing waiting lists and a record number of households - including 160,000 children - are living in temporary accommodation.

Under the changes, councils and developers will need to give greater consideration to social rent when building new properties and local leaders will have greater powers to build "genuinely" affordable homes.

Ms Rayner said the "landmark overhaul" will "shake up a broken planning system which caves into the blockers and obstructs the builders".

The reforms will mean areas with the highest unaffordability for housing and the greatest potential for growth will see housebuilding targets increase.

Under the current planning framework, just under one-third of local authorities have adopted a local plan - a document setting out where future homes and infrastructure could be built - within the last five years.

"We must all do our bit and we must all do more. We expect every local area to adopt a plan to meet their housing need," Ms Rayner said.

"The question is where the homes and local services people expect are built, not whether they are built at all."

The government has announced £100 million of additional cash for councils, along with 300 additional planning officers, to speed up decision-making processes.

The extra money can be used to hire more staff or consultants and to carry out technical studies and site assessments.

Adam Hug, the Local Government Association's housing spokesman, said: "For councils to share the Government's ambition to tackle local housing challenges, there must be a collaborative approach.

"It is councils and communities who know their local areas and are therefore best placed to make judgement decisions on how to manage competing demand for land use through the local plan-led system.

"Getting housebuilding targets in the right place is a difficult task, so any national algorithms and formulas should be supplemented with local knowledge and involvement by councils and communities who know their areas best."

Richard Clewer, housing and planning spokesman for the County Councils Network, said: "Whilst ministers have spoken of the need to ensure we have sufficient infrastructure - such as roads, school places, and GP surgeries - to support these thousands of new homes, there is little to back up their rhetoric in the updated NPPF.

"Considering much of the new development will be in parts of county areas with limited public transport and services, it is vital the Government sets out ways to better capture the money required to build the necessary infrastructure."

Sam Richards, chief executive of pro-growth campaign group Britain Remade, said: "For far too long the building of new homes, new clean energy projects and new transport links have been held back by a planning system that stifles growth and opportunity.

"We now live in a world where building anything is illegal in large swathes of the country.

"But the changes outlined by the Deputy Prime Minister go some way in shifting the balance back in favour of those who want to get Britain building again and should be applauded."

The NPPF reforms are just one part of plans to rewrite the planning rules to make it easier to build homes and major infrastructure projects.

The forthcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill is intended to rip up red tape and make it faster for projects to be approved.

The PM last week promised to end the "nonsense" that allowed an "alliance of naysayers" to block projects or force up costs through environmental protections.

Shadow housing secretary Kevin Hollinrake said: "'Labour will bulldoze through the concerns of local communities.

"If Labour really want homes to be built where they are needed, they must think again."