The Government’s proposed planning changes will not be enough to meet 1.5 million housebuilding target, with private sector development projected to fall short according to a report out this morning
The Centre for Cities Think Tank predicts that if private development rose to the same level as its strongest ever period of performance under the current planning system, it would still fall 388,000 homes short of delivering the Government’s 1.5 million target by 2029 – a shortfall that is unlikely to be bridged in full by public sector housebuilding within the next five years.
Using 80 years of data, the analysis shows how housebuilding is constrained by the discretionary planning system in cities and by the green belt – explicitly established to block suburban development. Neither of these is adequately addressed in the Government’s latest proposals for housing and planning.
If the private housebuilding sector is to help the country meet its target, Centre for Cities argues that the Government is faced with a choice either to scrap the green belt completely or remove the discretionary element of the planning system.
Achieving historic high levels of housebuilding in cities also requires greater public sector intervention to enable brownfield development and encourage densification, and a substantial increase in grant for public housebuilding.
Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, said:
“Rightly, the Government has set a bold housebuilding target. For the country to achieve it, parts of England would have to reach an 80-year high in housebuilding. This would be a huge positive for the country but the approach has to be much more ambitious.
“We’re in a productivity crisis. The UK’s big cities are the jobs and productivity engines of the economy but our planning system doesn’t allow – and has never allowed – them to build an adequate supply of homes for everyone that could work there.”
