Estimates from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) suggest the planning reforms announced in the Spring statement won’t even touch the sides.
It’s safe to say that the Spring statement, which was delivered on Wednesday, was populated by negativities and the positives were even further than few and far between. However, one beneficial factor to come from the announcement was Chancellor Rachel Reeves stating that housebuilding was set to hit a 40-year-high and boost the economy by £6.8bn.
What’s more, the Chancellor revealed a range of new planning reforms, including mandatory targets for councils, making it easier to build on green belt land and further investing in affordable housing, to help meet their target of delivering 1.5 million homes before the next parliament.
However, new figures from the OBR, which have since been published after the Spring statement, show planning reforms are on track to deliver fewer homes than the government hopes.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are within the 1.3 million figure – the number of homes the Chancellor is hoping to deliver by 2029 – meaning only one million homes are expected to be built in England.
Meanwhile, the OBR also make clear that many of those properties would have been built regardless of the government’s newly announced planning reforms.
Against this backdrop, last year saw a record low for housing projects granted planning permission in this country, with just over 30,000 given the greenlight.
Commenting on the news, a government spokesperson told the BBC said: ‘The OBR forecast only factors in reforms in reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework in England which is just one element of this government’s efforts to increase housebuilding.
‘Further reforms such as the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, the government’s long term housing strategy and the new Affordable Homes Programme are not reflected in the forecast and will all help to reach the 1.5 million target.’
Photo by Hoang Kim Hung via UnSplash
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