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8 COMMENT THE SOCIAL NETWORK


Patrick Mooney, editor of Housing, Management & Maintenance


OVER A MILLION HOMES WITH PLANNING REMAIN UNBUILT


Patrick Mooney, housing consultant and news editor of Housing, Management & Maintenance, says that the level of unbuilt homes with planning permission suggests that planners aren’t the barrier to housebuilding, and explores the other possible causes of the problem.


ocal authority planners are well used to being blamed for shortages in the supply of new homes, with their critics claiming that planners are bound by red tape and too much bureaucracy for them to react quickly to changes in the housing market.


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I have often felt these criticisms are unjust, partly because planners have to work within rules laid down by politicians, but also because as public servants they are expected to keep their heads down, their mouths shut, and to get on with their work. But now their bosses at the Local Government Association have come out vocally in their support.


THE LGA SAYS THE BACKLOG OF UNBUILT HOMES SHOWS THE PLANNING SYSTEM IS NOT A BARRIER TO BUILDING


WWW.HBDONLINE.CO.UK


The LGA has analysed official figures for planning approvals and new house comple- tions over the past 10 years and says these show there are well over a million homes with planning permission that are yet to be built. Since 2009/10, councils have granted permission for 2,564,600 new homes to be built, but over the same period only 1,530,680 have been completed. Similarly, the number of planning permissions granted for new homes has almost doubled since 2012/13, with councils approving nine in 10 of the applica- tions submitted.


While in some cases there will be a time lag


between permission being granted and homes being built, new build completions have only increased by half as much in the past decade. Encouragingly, completions at 213,860 last year were the highest in any single year in the past 10 years.


The LGA says the backlog of unbuilt homes shows the planning system is not a barrier to housebuilding. Instead, it is calling on the Government to use its forthcoming planning


white paper to give councils powers to take action on unbuilt land which has planning permission for new houses.


This includes making it easier to compulsory purchase land where homes remain unbuilt, and to be able to charge developers full council tax for every unbuilt development from the point that the original planning permission expires. Interestingly, the gap between the permis- sions and completions figures is very similar to the gap of 1.2 million homes, which Heriot Watt University estimates is the number of homes needed now, to ensure that everyone has a ‘decent’ (i.e. of a good, liveable standard) home. Their forecasts also show around four million extra homes will be needed by 2035, due to estimated population growth and the rate of housing completions.


NOT A BLAME GAME But before we turn our fire on the house- builders and demand they end their practice of landbanking and only releasing new homes when it’s convenient to their balance sheets, there are a couple of huge problems we need to resolve as a nation. These have been thrown into sharp relief by events in recent weeks and months.


This winter we have been absolutely battered by some savage weather patterns. Storms Ciara and Dennis in particular have brought flooding to thousands of homes across wide parts of the country from Dorset to Cumbria. Towns such as Shrewsbury and Ironbridge are finding themselves in the spotlight as rivers like the Severn burst their banks and


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