Getting Britain Building

The Government’s landmark Planning and Infrastructure Bill (PIB) was published in March, setting out their agenda for planning reform and as part of its commitment to ‘get Britian building’.

CPRE’s response has not been entirely critical but we have been at pains to explain that to get more homes built quickly, and before we build any more new towns, the government should make the following key changes.

• Firstly, more than 1.2 million new homes could actually be built on shovel-ready brownfield sites in England alone, including through the new ‘brownfield passports’.

• Secondly, it should address the fact that one million new homes have already been granted planning permission but have not yet been built.

The Government claim that the reform of the planning system is essential to getting key infrastructure built. However, we want to ensure that reforms do not water down commitments to local democracy and quality of building.

CPRE has published our reaction to the bill, setting out our key concerns and areas on which we’ll be seeking amendments. We have also set out the ten things we want the new bill to do.

CPRE is concerned about public participation and community involvement. We believe the new Bill will lead to a democratic deficit, as local people and Council Planning Committees are removed from most planning decisions, with responsibility delegated to planning officers. This will almost certainly require extra resources for hard-pressed planning departments.

We have long argued for more homes to be built on brownfield sites and hopefully the government will use this opportunity to prioritise brownfield development.

Unsurprisingly, CPRE has concerns about the environmental protections in infrastructure projects and we trust this will be addressed. Finally, we support the introduction of new planning controls on second homes and short term holiday lets, which has been a particular problem in certain parts of the country.

The Government’s landmark Planning and Infrastructure Bill (PIB) can be found here.

Further details of the CPRE’s formal response to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill can be found on the national website.