Summary: We will bring forward a bold package of measures to speed up the planning process, improve performance for users and further increase the level of building that our country needs.
- All too often the planning system is complicated, outdated and bureaucratic. It delays important development and makes it too complex and costly for local residents and small businesses to navigate.
- We will reform the planning system to speed up and simplify the process, while making sure local people still have their say. We will make it easier to replace disused buildings with attractively designed homes, as well as reforming planning fees to encourage local authorities to make faster decisions.
- We will create a more efficient and responsive planning system, further increasing the number of new homes, giving families more freedom to expand their homes and backing small developers to succeed.
Background
- It is often too difficult to replace poor-quality, disused commercial buildings with the homes people need. Many towns have poor-quality, under-used commercial buildings which, if demolished, could be suitable for new housing. But currently, land owners and developers face too many barriers and potential development is deterred.
Our solution
- We will bring forward measures to be included the Accelerated Planning Green Paper, to speed up the end-to-end planning process. We will create a simpler, more responsive planning system for all users, where smaller developers face lighter touch requirements and planning fees are reformed to encourage local authorities to speed up planning decisions.
- We will make it easier to replace poor-quality, disused commercial buildings with attractive residential buildings, helping more people to find a home of their own. We propose to introduce a streamlined Permission in Principle consent route for the demolition and redevelopment of disused commercial and industrial buildings and its replacement with housing.
Conservative record
- We have delivered 232,800 extra homes in 2018-19, the largest increase since records began in 2010. There was a net increase of 232,800 in the number of domestic properties with a council tax band in England between March 2018 and March 2019.
Q: Is the Government going to change planning rules to build on the Green Belt around stations?
No. We have maintained national Green Belt protection, in line with our manifesto pledge. It has long been the case in planning policy that one can build on brownfield land, provided the openness of the countryside is not harmed.
