Plans to build 1.5m homes in the course of this Parliament could be impacted by a shortage of planning officers, with some council vacancy levels at almost 50% according to a recent Freedom of Information (FoI) request.
The report, published in The Times, is drawn from a FoI request looking at 134 councils and suggests a shortage of over 2,000 planning officers is already causing significant delays in approvals of new housing and infrastructure projects. Only about 20% of local authorities have enough staff to meet existing planning applications and planning figures indicate one in five planning applications for ‘major projects’ were decided within the statutory 13 week period over the last three months.
A spokesperson for the Local Government Association (LGA) said “significant ongoing and historic challenge(s) with resourcing planning teams” was impacting services. Councils are reliant on agency staff with nearly £64m spent on plugging the shortage of planning officers, at a cost of £200,000 per council.
“Planning is a vital part of ensuring safe, well designed and appropriate housebuilding takes place, and despite the challenges faced by local planning departments, nine in ten planning applications are approved,” the LGA said. “Councils want to work with the government to better help recruit and retain the planners and built environment professionals required to support an efficient locally-led planning system in order to build the homes we need.”
The government announced its Planning and Infrastructure Bill will be introduced into Parliament in the Spring tackling regulatory red tape and encouraging more development. In a working paper published over the weekend Chancellor Rachel Reeves said homebuilding plans would focus on areas near commuter hubs where the default answer to development will be ‘yes’ in an effort to ‘unlock more housing at a greater density in areas central to local communities, boosting the government’s number one mission to grow the economy.’
A recent survey by the Home Builders Federation (HBF) identified wait times of over 12 months for planning permission. Neil Jefferson, HBF’s chief executive, warned that the the issues undermined efforts to ‘get Britain building.’
“Housing delivery offers immense economic and social benefits to communities, yet these advantages are being held back due to inadequate planning resources. It is frustrating to see local authorities unable to cope with the demand, particularly when the government is looking for ways to boost infrastructure investment.”
One Response
I’ve also just read that there is a shortage of HGV drivers to supply goods to site and remove waste; this goes along with a shortage of brickies and other trades.
Was a full risk assessment undertaken for this policy and the wider issues that may impact it, because I can’t see how these issues could have been missed!