FIT FOR THE FUTURE

Housing secretary Robert Jenrick has called for the “overly bureaucratic” planning system to be reformed to help speed up and simplify the planning process in England. Robert Jenrick announced the government will rethink the planning system from first principles, with the government reportedly planning a series of radical planning reforms.

“I want everyone, no matter where in the country they live, to have access to affordable, safe, and high-quality housing, and to live in communities with a real sense of place,” said Robert Jenrick. “The time has come to speed up and simplify this country’s overly bureaucratic planning process.”

But radical changes could move the planning system back, according to Tom Fyans, campaigns and policy director at the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), the countryside planning charity. “The call to rip up the red tape in our planning system only moves us backwards. We cannot continue to allow a free-for-all for speculative developers and deregulation won’t improve the quantity or quality of homes.”

Robert Jenrick insisted that high-quality design and sensitivity to local areas must be paramount to any new reforms, but there is concern that further deregulation could end up hurting development quality.

“To create a planning system fit for the future the government must introduce reforms to strengthen local participation and ensure our countryside and green spaces are protected and enhanced, not just seen as land waiting to be developed,” said Tom Fyans. “Only then will we create truly liveable, genuinely affordable and low carbon places to live.”