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Reforms ‘inject greater democratic involvement’ into planning system, says housing minister

News08 Sep 2020Sarah Williams

The housing minister has used his address to the CIH Virtual Housing Festival to defend planning reforms unveiled by the government last month.

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In his address to the Virtual Housing Festival, Christopher Pincher set out to dispel “three myths that have surfaced” about proposed planning reforms (picture: Richard Townshend)
In his address to the Virtual Housing Festival, Christopher Pincher set out to dispel “three myths that have surfaced” about proposed planning reforms (picture: Richard Townshend)
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Housing minister @ChrisPincher has used his address to the @CIHhousing #VirtualHousingFestival to defend planning reforms unveiled by the government last month #UKhousing #SocialHousingFinance
Reforms ‘inject greater democratic involvement’ into planning system, says housing minister #VirtualHousingFestival #UKhousing #SocialHousingFinance

The reforms include changes to permitted development rights and a proposed new national infrastructure levy to replace the current system of Section 106 contributions.

 

Speaking via video link yesterday, Christopher Pincher told delegates that he wanted to address “three myths that have surfaced” in response to the reforms.

 

Referring to what he called the “ill-founded criticism that [the] changes will diminish local decision-making”, Mr Pincher said that the reforms would in fact ensure consultation with local communities from the beginning of the planning process.

 

He said: “I want to be clear – local communities will play a central role in deciding the future of their areas, helping plan where development should go, what standard it should be and what it should look and feel like.

 

“Far from removing communities from the planning process, these reforms inject greater democratic involvement into the system.

 

“We want communities to have their say on setting the plan, rather than reacting to individual applications too late in the process.”

 

Mr Pincher described the second “baseless charge” as being that they “sweep away environmental protections for the countryside and undermine the green belt”.

 

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said. “Our local plan policies require developers to commit themselves to providing – and funding – a vast array of green infrastructure including whole new parks, green roofs, bee bricks and even the planting of community orchards.”

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Finally, Mr Pincher addressed what he described as the “unfounded charge that we risk ‘levelling down’ our urban areas with too much focus on the South East and too little in the North of England”.

 

He said: “Our longer-term proposals prevent the amount of available land being a barrier to building the homes communities need through prioritising brownfield first and directing development to existing urban areas.

 

“They will result in an overall increase in the number of homes being built across the whole country while delivering more houses in the least affordable areas.

 

“When assessing housing need, we are taking bold action which will see enough homes built in the places where people and communities need them. ”

 

The housing minister did not use his speech to reveal new funding or support measures for the housing sector, but indicated that secretary of state Robert Jenrick may have more to say on this topic this week.

 

He said: “[We] won’t shy away from strengthening national initiatives such as our Affordable Homes Programme to help councils meet their housing demands while also creating new homes of all tenures; I know the secretary of state will speak in more depth about this when he addresses this festival.

 

“Through a concerted effort from national and local government, we will ‘build, build, build’ while alleviating some of the worst affordability challenges that have held back our housing market for far too long.”

 

The CIH Virtual Housing Festival is taking place throughout this week online, and there is still time to join. Click here to register, up until 3pm on 10 September

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