As the much-anticipated Planning and Infrastructure Act became law in December, heralding widespread changes aimed at accelerating housing and major infrastructure projects across the UK, it also brings further questions about how the planning system will cope.
That’s the view of Richard Greenwood, Director of New Build Operations at EN:Procure, the procurement arm of specialist social housing consortium Efficiency North, which builds communities in the North of England.
Richard explained: “While welcoming the move to improve the delivery of homes and infrastructure, I would question whether the infrastructure of the planning system itself is ready for the surge of new build housing promised by the Government.
“The headlines are certainly eye-catching — faster planning consent and a crackdown on local-political legal challenges. But while major housebuilders are welcoming the changes, the SME sector is probably feeling less celebratory.
“As the Home Builders’ Federation has pointed out, you can’t legislate for a lack of skilled labour. A quicker “yes” from a council doesn’t translate to putting a roof on a house if there are simply not enough skilled tradespeople available to build it.”
Richard said planning resourcing was at the heart of the issue: “Planning departments are already stretched to breaking point and yet we are expecting them to face a massive increase in applications.
“Strategic agencies like Highways, Natural England and the Environment Agency are in a similar position and I haven’t seen anything yet about bolstering them. I suspect the devil will be in the detail.
“Then there is the issue of utility deadlock. Most drainage and utility providers are private entities beyond the direct control of these new planning rules.
“You can have the fastest planning approval in Yorkshire, but if you’re waiting two years for a substation connection or a diversion, projects will not be going anywhere. It will be interesting to see past these policy ‘fixes’ and discover how resourcing can be improved to avoid unnecessarily raising the industry’s expectations.”
To find out more about EN:Procure, visit: https://www.efficiencynorth.org/en-procure/.
