RTPI Housing Policy JOSEPH KILROY ｜ RTPI POLICY & RESEARCH

Today

o The context for planning

o The housing and planning act

o Better Planning

PLANNING’S

DAMAGING

IMPACT ON

RETAIL

PRODUCTIVITY LSE BLOG

”

PLANING

KILLING FOUR

BIRDS WITH

ONE STONE INSTITUE OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS

“

IT REALLY IS

THE PLANNING

SYSTEM THAT

IS HARMING

US. ADAM SMITH INSITUTE

”

Source: ‘Local government’s role in promoting economic growth’. LGA, November 2012

REDUCTIONS TO PUBLIC

SECTOR SERVICES

CHANGE IN BUDGETED SPEND

2010–11 TO 2014–15

-55% in

6 years

for high cut

authorities

DCLG

The last time we built over 200,000 homes in a single year

was in 1988

House prices are growing faster than incomes

Net additions for 2014/15 were 170,690. This is a 25%

increase from 2013/14, but not enough to meet need

Private rents are on an upward trend – increasing by 2.5%

in the 12 months to June 2016 (and in London by 3.0%)

PLANNING GENERATES

SIGNIFICANT REVENUES

DCLG

VALUE

OF

PLANNING

Economic

opportunity

Public safety

and security

Diversity and

inclusivity

Resource

efficiency

Entrepreneurialism

and creativity

Health

outcomes Connectivity

The housing and planning act

Starter Homes

Permission in Principle

Alternative Providers

Starter Homes

Planning issues

• Homes exclusively offered to first-time buyers under the age of

40, at a 20% discount below their open market value

• Funded by removal of planning obligations on exception sites

• 20% blanket SH requirement means overriding of local plans

based on strategic housing market assessments

• Unintended consequences of Starter Homes exception sites

being extended to unviable or under-used retail, leisure, and

non-residential institutional brownfield land

Starter Homes Affordability issues

• A replacement for affordable housing and a mix of tenures?

• Impact on viability negotiations

• Concerns around removal of “in perpetuity” provisions

• Who can afford Starter Homes?

Starter Homes

Permission in Principle • The Act introduces an automatic 'planning permission in

principle' (PiP) for certain ‘suitable’ allocated housing sites in

England

• Need clarity on ‘suitable’ and have ‘accessibility’ as a separate

criteria

• Many sites are so poorly located that their development would

generate high volumes of car traffic and long commutes.

• BF registers: 73 pilots on going

• ‘Zoning’ is one of the major contributors to economic and social

segregation of cities and has resulted in poor location choices

for housing locations

Amendment

• Bill changed to make it clearer what is meant by the 'qualifying

documents' that would be used to grant permission in principle.

• We argued for more clarity in order to prevent an Act of

Parliament permitting any document created by the Secretary of

State to grant a blanket permission across England.

• Acceptable documents: future local plans; future neighbourhood

plans; brownfield registers

Alternative Providers

• Applications could be processed by 'alternative providers' rather

than local planning authorities

• A planning application is not simply a transaction

• Lack of accompanying evidence that it is delays in making

recommendations that holds up planning applications

• MRTPI qualifications for alternative providers

BEST PRACTICE

Birmingham Municipal Housing Trust

A dedicated team A mix of tenures

to help viability

A financial model

that allows

developers to

‘build now and

pay later’

Securing spillover

benefits

WHAT WORKS

RTPI Conferences is managed by Kaplan Hawksmere on behalf of the Royal Town Planning Institute

Plan for Homes

Plymouth City Council

Plan for Homes

Plymouth City Council

• Finance: creatively using local authority resources alongside the

flexible application of planning and housing policies;

• Land: identifying and releasing substantial amounts of City

Council owned land for housing in the most streamlined and

targeted way;

• Infrastructure: proactively working with institutional investors to

attract new funding and aligning capital programme;

• Community Engagement: proactive dialogue with local

communities, ward councillors and delivery partners;

• Leadership: provide positive strategic leadership of the housing

agenda in advocating the need for more homes.

Planning in the Netherlands

• Comprehensive, plan-led

planning system

• “Planning agencies make

things happen, rather than

wait passively until some-

one comes along who

wants to implement their

plan

• Active land policy

• Large-scale urban

development projects

(clearly phased)

Planning in the Netherlands

RTPI Conferences is managed by Kaplan Hawksmere on behalf of the Royal Town Planning Institute

RTPI Conferences is managed by Kaplan Hawksmere on behalf of the Royal Town Planning Institute

Thank you joseph.Kilroy@rtpi.org.uk ｜ @josephkilroy