The UK housing market is missing millions of homes due to outdated and inefficient planning laws, a new report from Centre for Cities has found.
The independent research unit says the current post-war case-by-case planning process, based on the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act, has created an unpredictable system which is hampering housebuilding.
This has resulted in a housing crisis, as the population has grown faster than houses have been built, leading rent and house prices to rocket.
According to Centre for Cities, there is a deficit of 4.3 million homes in the UK which could have been built since the 1950s, leading UK housebuilding rates to drop below European averages.
Centre for Cities Chief Executive Andrew Carter said: ‘This research shows that UK planning policy has held back the economy for nearly three quarters of a century, stifling growth and exacerbating a housing crisis that has blighted the country for decades.
‘Big problems require big solutions and if the Government is to clear its backlog of unbuilt homes, it must first deliver planning reform. Failure to do this will only continue to limit England’s housebuilding potential and prevent millions from getting on the property ladder.’
The Housebuilding Crisis report says it would take at least half a century to fulfil government aims of building 300,000 homes a year.
To tackle the problem sooner, it would take 442,000 homes a year over 25 years or 654,000 homes over the next decade in England alone.
Planning rules allow local authorities to have ‘an unusually high level of discretion’, restricting development, as applications can be rejected despite developers adhering to local plans.
Now housebuilding rates in England and Wales have dropped by more than a third since the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 was introduced – there was 2% growth per year between 1856 and 1939, but this has reduced to 1.2% between 1947 and 2019.
Centre for Cities says the government must bring in planning reforms which should include a shift to a rules-based planning system with flexible zoning processes, like successful systems in Europe.
The research and policy institute says this would guarantee more land for new homes and would make higher-quality housing affordable.
Photo by Benjamin Elliott
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