Future planning?

How strongly do you agree with the following statements?

To some extent, these views dovetail with the belief of 87% of UK professionals that the last few years of fluctuating, politically-driven reform proposals have had a negative effect on the industry. A failing planning system is seen as one part of a wider systemic failure to deliver the real estate the UK needs. Says CMS Head of Planning Ashley Damiral: “It’s not that the architecture of the system is broken. It suffers from a chronic lack of investment in it and uncertainty caused by constant attempts to overhaul it.”

Our 2022 report focused on levelling up, noting that “there is an industry-wide opinion that levelling up is necessary if we are to build a sustainable future for towns and cities. However, whether the government is getting it right is up for debate.” And that debate continues: this year, nearly three-quarters of UK professionals (73%) told us that the government has not committed enough towards the levelling up agenda.

Would political change make anything better? Opinions are sharply divided. A slim majority of our respondents (51%) believe that “planning would be better under a Labour government” – but that leaves 49% who disagree. It is not clear how many of that 49% think that a Conservative government is better for planning and how many simply believe that neither of the main political parties is likely to fix it.

Adds Ashley Damiral: “Some areas might work better under a Labour government – for example, if they allow onshore wind in England again and adopt a more robust approach to housing targets. There also needs to be an honest conversation about green belt, which could host significant development without undermining its purpose. Any new administration should concentrate on these targeted policy changes rather than wholesale reform.”

According to Martin Evans, a partner in the CMS planning team: “In all sectors we have seen more complexity and delay, particularly on major proposals. This creates a perfect storm of uncertainty and additional cost and time, and is pushing back the delivery of much-needed new homes, business and other infrastructure. In a growing number of cases developers have to appeal as a last resort and the secretary of state is ‘calling in’ proposals which have been found acceptable at a local level.

“Planning is also something we are seeing increasingly raised as an issue when inward investors are looking at the UK as a potential location. Resourcing is clearly an issue and needs to be improved. This is coupled with a continually shifting political dynamic. The recent dropping of national housing delivery targets and the introduction of the ‘beauty’ test for new development significantly adds to this uncertainty.”