New homes mustn’t cost the earth

Jess Price
, 31 July 2024
New homes mustn’t cost the earth
Miles Davies

The new government wants to overhaul the planning system to ‘get Britain building’ 1.5 million new homes over the next five years – but they also have a clear mandate to ‘deliver for nature’ in the runup to 2030 and beyond. For decades, development has been a significant driver of biodiversity loss, so how can we ensure that planning reform delivers for nature?

Yesterday (30th July), the Government launched an eight-week consultation on their ‘Proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework and other changes to the planning system’.

We’ve already set out what we think the government needs to do to create a sustainable planning system:

  • Protect key habitats and the rules that support their protection
  • Make space for nature
  • Integrate nature into the design of new developments
  • Ensure successful Biodiversity Net Gain
  • Provide funding and support to local planning authorities

The question is, will this consultation address any of these points?

After an initial look at the government’s proposals, there will be big changes to the ‘standard method’ – which calculates the total number of homes each local authority needs to plan for - and we’re concerned that the government is too focused on the total number of homes they want to deliver, rather then the type, quality and location of development. In the South East, local planning authorities have been dealing with astronomical housing targets for the last decade and this approach hasn’t resulted in those targets being achieved or affordable housing being delivered. Simply raising those targets even higher won’t help and could make matters significantly worse.

The consultation does state that local planning authorities would be able to justify a lower housing requirement then the figure the method sets out on the basis of local constraints on land and delivery. So what exactly does this mean? Does the government recognise that there are environmental limits, and we need to operate within them?

We want to see the planning system changed so that it looks at the environmental capacity to absorb and support development, which will be a positive move for both wildlife and people. We also want to see planning viewed as one element of a wider Land Use Framework to ensure a truly strategic and sustainable approach to decision making, with nature at its core. Setting out a strategy for how land is used across the country will help the government meet their legally binding targets and international commitments on climate change and nature recovery, while making sure that society has the housing, food, business, transport, energy and water it needs. Frustratingly, this consultation doesn’t mention this.

This will be the focus of our response and we’ll make sure to share our main points publicly before the submission deadline (24 September).

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