PM unveils plans to “rewrite the rules” on planning law

In recent days, Prime Minister Theresa May has unveiled Government proposals to “rewrite the rules” on planning law in a bid to try and solve the UK’s so-called housing crisis.

In a speech delivered in London on Monday 5 March 2018, Mrs May said that the Government would work to restore the dream of home ownership in the UK by introducing new, fairer planning rules to help streamline housebuilding all across the country.

The Prime Minister voiced concerns that Britain had failed to deliver “enough of the right homes in the right places” for decades as a result of a flawed planning system.

She said that a series of new rules would seek to make the UK’s planning system fairer and more effective by cutting red tape for property developers and pulling down existing barriers to housebuilding and social mobility.

Specifically, she said that going forward, the Government would make it much more difficult for developers to “sit on land and watch its value rise.”

She said: “Where councils are allocating sufficient land for the homes people need, our new planning rulebook will stop developers building on large sites that aren’t allocated in the plan – something that’s not fair on residents who agree to a plan only to see it ignored.”

The PM also indicated that the Government would take a new approach to the issue of planning permission on Green Belt land.

She said: “I’d rather see an ugly, disused power station demolished and replaced with attractive housing than a wood or open field concreted over – even if the former is in the Green Belt and the latter is not.”

The Government’s proposals will be consulted on for a period of eight weeks, with a final version of plans due to be unveiled in the summer.

Further information regarding the Government’s proposals can be accessed on the GOV.UK website here.