The incentives contained in the NPPF encourage people to oppose local development, termed "not in my back yard" (NIMBYism) and it does not address the fundamental flaws in the planning framework, the paper said.
Housing affordability measurements show housing to be unaffordable in every single one of the 33 regions in the UK, the paper said. Whilst the NPPF is a reasonable first-aid measure, it is no more than that, it added.
"Empirical evidence" shows that planning restrictions are the "key determinant" of housing costs, and the Government's planning reforms are a "cautious attempt" to address the anti-development bias, the Abundance of land, shortage of housing (25-page / 411KB PDF) discussion paper said.
The "anti development bias" does not stem from details of the planning system, the paper said, but rather from the combination of a restrictive planning system and an over-centralised tax system.
The paper recommended that the Government extend its localism agenda to include local finance and planning, to ensure that locals get the benefit of development, rather than the disadvantages.
“If the government wants cheaper housing, it needs to have the courage to change the system so that development benefits local people, who currently only face the costs," said Professor Philip Booth, editorial director at the IEA. "For too long, vested interests and NIMBYism have dominated our planning system, tweaking it won’t change this. It’s time for fundamental reform.”
Local authorities should have control of their expenditure through local taxes, which would give them incentive to enlarge their tax base. Granting planning permission would be one way of doing so, the paper said.
"People would be free to vote for NIMBY policies, but they would be aware of the opportunity cost. Blocking development would mean foregoing tax cuts or better local public services," the paper said.
The final NPPF (72-page / 1.3MB PDF) was published in March. It aims to simplify the planning system and give communities more power to determine where development takes place.
"It has reduced over a thousand pages of often impenetrable jargon into around 50 pages of clearly written guidance," according to minister for communities Greg Clark.
The paper also says that the Government must resist lobbying by vested interests against planning reform to help those struggling to afford to buy a home. It must also enable rational trade-offs between preserving valuable pieces of countryside and other considerations.
Environmental campaigners opposed the NPPF because of fears that the relaxed planning policy would result in swathes of development across the country's green belt land.
