On Wednesday 29 January the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves outlined her plans for economic growth. As anticipated, she put considerable faith in the planning system to deliver economic growth.

Commenting on the announcement, planning consultant Nick Diment, Director, Boyer (part of Leaders Romans Group) said, “Planning is an important starting point in securing a prosperous economic future – from addressing the housing crisis through to supporting industry and infrastructure, as without the physical infrastructure little can be achieved.

“I don’t question the ability of planning to deliver, but I have two major reservations in relation to today’s announcement: firstly, even with the proposed reforms, is the planning system sufficiently unambiguous to enable such growth, and secondly, what next?”

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Another planning director, Antony Duthie, Regional Director of Lanpro comments, “The Government’s prevailing commitment to planning reform and growth is welcomed. However, will streamlining rules be enough within the context of wider economic policies – interest rates, the availability of finance, the impact of inflation on materials all undermining market confidence deliver the Government’s aspirations to accelerate development? All are inherently interlinked. They cannot be viewed in isolation if the Government is to make headway in delivering the 1.5m new homes and major infrastructure projects within this Parliament.”

The consequences of change

Antony Duthie says, “One has to be mindful of course of the latent discord between the positive messages from Westminster and MPs’ work in their constituencies. Local residents will invariably be reluctant to accept change their ‘back yard’ if they haven’t felt part of the process.”

Nick Diment adds, “Many politicians – Liz Truss springs to mind – refer to ‘cutting red tape’ to deliver much-needed change. But it is important to consider why the red tape exists – what is it intended to protect, and how will the system will function in its absence?

Do the reforms go far enough?

Nick continues, “It’s been encouraging to see large-scale energy infrastructure schemes progressed and reforms have also been successful on a smaller scale.

“But until we see the content of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill and the new National Development Management Policies, and until we know the outcome of the various planning working papers and informal consultation exercises, there’s very little to comment on, let alone reassure us the Rachel Reave’s ‘further and faster’ growth ambitions will materialise.

Resourcing will remain an impediment

“The government has promised funding for 300 additional planners. Irrespective of the fact that this would allow for less than 0.5 planner per local authority – and considerably less so if devolved bodies also require strategic planning expertise – it is not only planners that are required to enable development to take place.

“At a local authority level alone, planning positively requires input from conservation officers, ecology officers, highways to name a few . Beyond planning, development requires a huge range of skills, from construction workers to sales and marketing. In many circumstances, government support will be needed to ensure that the necessary skills are available.

The revised NPPF overlooked the elements of development that deliver economic growth

“Given the rhetoric and headline grabbing to date it is perhaps hardly surprising that the changes to the NPPF largely concerned residential. But jobs and infrastructure are imperative not only to provide full-functioning communities, but to deliver on the aspiration of economic growth.

“A change in planning policy for commercial and industrial development was notably missing from the revised NPPF but perhaps not a surprise. From a commercial development point of view, one of the few changes to the NPPF was the recognition that local plans must have regard to national industrial strategy (Invest 2035). Is this a nod towards strategic planning, and something we can expect to see more of in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill? It is widely appreciated that regional planning is by far the best means of enabling good industrial development, much of which operates at the national, regional, or subregional levels and this would certainly be welcomed.

www.boyerplanning.co.uk

www.lanproservices.co.uk