Stephen Byfield, managing director of communications consultancy PPS Group, says that the government’s radical localism measures will hit housebuilders hard and no-one will benefit – not even consultancies such as his own.
One of the great disadvantages of our parliamentary democracy is that each new government feels an irresistible urge to muck about with the planning system. To some extent, you can see why. Ever since the Town and Country Planning Act was introduced, it has been a sea-anchor on growth adding years and millions of pounds to investment decisions.
But any Government looking to tackle this problem runs head first into NIMBYism. Most people who come across the planning system don’t want it speeded up or made easier, they want planning applications affecting them stopped. So, for the last 20 years, successive Governments have proclaimed that they will speed up planning and have then slowed it down with more layers of plans and a greater commitment to consultation.
All this makes the new government’s approach quite radical. This time, government ministers will try to mend the system by putting more power into the hands of those who least want to see development progress.
On a macro level it’s an approach with merits. Areas that feel wealthy but are, perhaps, overcrowded will be able to resist development. Over time this might drive investment to less well off parts of the country where the benefits of development will be welcomed. And decisions about demand made locally ought to result in better planning.
But these benefits, if they emerge, are years away. And the short-term casualties will be housebuilders. No other sector is as reliant on centrally imposed numbers underpinning arguments for development. That is why retailers, property companies and distribution park operators have not been rushing to the barricades over the new system in the way that housebuilders have.
Make no mistake; the short and medium term hiatus already developing will hit housebuilders disproportionately hard. Councils have dropped over 85,000 allocated units from plans since the election and more will undoubtedly follow as we await new primary legislation, which is unlikely to be law until early summer next year. We risk at least a year in which few positive development decisions are made.
It is all very depressing. To date when a new government has tinkered with the planning system I have consoled myself with the thought that nothing fundamental will change and it will inexorably result in more work for PPS. But this time it may hit the fragile housebuilding business to such an extent that none of us benefit.
Stephen Byfield now writes a regular monthly column for Housebuilder, the leading magazine for UK residential development and regeneration. To read this article in the September issue and more on the housebuilder website click here
Written by Stephen Byfield