Planning reforms will lead to no change, councils warn in new survey

According to the survey 88% of local authorities believe the new planning system will lead to no change and may even decrease development, GL Hearn said in a statement. 

Only 2% of local authorities thought the changes might produce a 'materially faster and leaner system'. Speeding up planning decisions, empowering local planning officers and increased funding for local planning authorities were the most popular suggestions to changes in the way local authorities operate.

GL Hearn conducted the survey in association with membership organisation British Property Federation (BPF). It follows the Government's publication in March of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) aimed at simplifying the planning system, as well as measures announced by the Government in September to kickstart housing development.

"The results suggest that whilst the planning system is not the main brake on growth, there are major concerns over the time taken and cost and uncertainties involved in the planning process, which exacerbate the economic outlook for development," said GL Hearn director Shaun Andrews.

“The survey goes a long way towards laying to rest concerns raised that the planning reforms represent a 'developer’s charter'.  Indeed, the survey results suggest there is an appetite for further reform particularly that which will reduce planning delays, the costs associated with 'planning gain' and that which will deliver greater certainty for investors," he said.

"Ultimately construction will only happen if projects stack up financially. The reason property development projects all over the country have stalled is not primarily down to restrictive planning," said BPF chief executive Liz Peace. "Indeed, many local authorities are desperate to get development going and are very willing to grant permission. The key problem in most cases is lack of financial viability."

"The changed economic conditions of recent years means that schemes simply don’t stack up anymore. But there are plenty of growth generating and job creating schemes that could be made viable with some targeted help and a more efficient planning system,” she said.

The survey also looked at how London Boroughs process major planning applications. It found that in the 12 months leading up to the publication of the NPPF, the average time a borough took to process a major application was 38 weeks, exceeding the government target of 13 weeks.

Appeals for major applications took an average of 31 weeks, exceeding the government target that all applications, including those that go to appeal, should take no more than 52 weeks.

“Underpinning the government’s recently proposed reforms has been the 12 month ‘Planning Guarantee’," Andrews said. "Our research demonstrates just how far we have to go to achieve this which, put simply, requires planning decisions to be made in just under half the time they currently are."