The new Labour government brings a real opportunity for change and reform within planning, says Simon Vernon-Harcourt, Design & Planning Director at City & Country.
Earlier this month, the people of Britain headed to the polls, and after 14 years of a Conservative Government, Labour’s campaigning paid off with an astounding landslide result.
The Labour Party has said it will deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation, with commitments to reform the planning system by recruiting 350 officers and delivering 1.5 million homes. Chancellor Rachel Reeves also committed to unlock ‘grey belt’ land to build more homes in the right places.
But with commitments and promises is the need for change and rapid action. We need to start by addressing the lack of capacity in local authority planning departments. As it stands, reports and information often crawl through the system due to the lack of resources and trained staff.
While this is a strong place to start and should be a key priority, proactive and pragmatic planning officers must be appointed who can deal sensibly with issues. Local authorities need to work with developers, who are well-equipped with the resources and expertise to help planning get approved and in doing so support these new officers who may be entering the industry for the first time.
What we need is quick informal feedback and advice to allow things to move forward. But the issues are far more serious than a lack of human resources.
Unlocking land
Land is in such short supply that it goes rapidly to the highest bidder who will look to build quickly and cheaply, without thinking carefully about the design.
With so little land available, there is rarely any real local competition to offer buyers options for different designs of homes and give buyers a choice on where to live, what to live in, and at an affordable level.
Much of a house’s sales price comes from the land value at the start, therefore making more land available and the promise to unlock greybelt land will help lower the costs and give potential homeowners greater choice.
The housing sector is crying out for increased land supply so we can only hope that the Labour Government will continue its promises to take swift action and prioritise this within the next few years.
We can’t forget about sustainability and placemaking
The new Government faces a massive task in getting the UK’s declining environment and climate targets back on track. This in housebuilding needs to be coupled with good quality architecture and design driving where homes are built.
New homes need to go where there are existing communities and good transport connections, which is often in the green belt. I would call for the removal of all greenbelt designations and instead let transport connections, ecological quality, visual impact, and design quality be the deciding factors.
A newly designed development can enhance an area, rather than detract from it.
For instance, 20-minute neighbourhoods where you can walk to shops, schools, and community facilities and easily reach railway stations and other transport hubs are what is required. Labour needs to give clear guidance and design codes that are specific to different parts of the country to reflect the local architecture and materials.
There needs to be design guidance that works for all developers, as well as the opportunity to go above and beyond this through carefully considered design review panels and local authority design officers.
Building high-quality, healthy homes
We need to make sure that we are designing homes that last generations to come, and that reflect the local architecture and heritage. Well-designed housing can meet the changing needs of its residents and help create great places for new and existing communities.
The Labour Party has made some positive noises already, so quickly from appointment, on what they want to do, and I hope they will have the drive and momentum to push this through. They need to encourage the creation of well-connected, beautifully designed and sustainable places for people to aspire to live in that are also affordable.
The UK is one of the most creative countries in the world and to my mind has some of the most mediocre housing developments, with very few exceptions that break the mould.
My ask to Labour would be to drive the highest standard through the creation of a design steering group, tapping into the most creative minds and best architecture across the UK.
This will enhance the quality of our housing stock, so new homes in well-connected areas can be seen as enriching the landscape, and not destroying it.