08 December 2006
The planning system must be speeded up to assist developers and save money, ministers were told this week.
One year after economist Kate Barker called for a major increase in house-building, her report on planning, published alongside the Pre-Budget Report, says policies must be streamlined to provide a more efficient and transparent framework. Green belt boundaries should be reviewed and planning authorities encouraged to 'take a more positive approach' to schemes that enhance the quality of green belts.
Applications should normally be approved unless economic, social and environmental costs outweigh the benefit of development. This, combined with more risk-based regulation, would cut paperwork and save more than £500m per year in planning and consultancy fees.
Barker also recommends a faster appeals process and suggests the number of applications called in by the government should be halved from next year.
Barker was commissioned by Gordon Brown to review the planning system and look at its links with economic growth. Her report also calls for an independent planning commission to rule on major infrastructure schemes such as power stations.
The Home Builders Federation praised Barker for a 'balanced and positive approach' to sustainable development. But Shaun Spiers, chief executive of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, claimed it was bound to increase sprawl across the countryside.
Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, chair of the Local Government Association, said Barker had recognised that 'time is up' for centrally controlled planning but added that reassessing green belt boundaries would not solve the shortage of homes without extra money being spent on infrastructure.
PFdec2006
