Did you know that The South East England Regional Assembly (SEERA), which is represented by councils, businesses and voluntary groups from across the area could recommend up to 650,000 homes be built between 2006 and 2026. The final figure has not be realest yet. For more information go to SEERA's website www.southeast-ra.gov.uk/southeastplan

News Release 2005/0136:
18 July 2005

PLANNING MUST RESPOND BETTER TO HOUSING SHORTAGE

A shake-up of the planning system is needed to respond better to market demand for more homes, ensuring more first time buyers get the chance to afford homes of their own, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said today.

Announcing new proposals to tackle the housing shortage and related longer term economic problems, the Deputy Prime Minister said local planning authorities will need to work together to be more flexible and responsive to the local housing market.

A new consultation, Planning for Housing Provision, will help ensure that in housing growth areas, such as Thames Gateway, the planning system is able to respond to demand by making appropriate land available more swiftly for building new homes.

In addition, a consultation on a new Greenbelt Direction will provide strengthened planning controls in greenbelt areas, ensuring closer scrutiny of planning applications and the referral of significant developments for the Secretary of State’s consideration.

Building more new homes on brownfield sites and at higher densities already means we can build 1.1 million homes on less land than the previous Government set aside for just 900,000 homes - saving over 5,000 ha, an area of greenfield land greater than the size of Norwich.

The Deputy Prime Minister said: "For decades, this country has built too few homes, with the result that too many people on moderate incomes can't afford a home. "The measures announced today will help us plan more homes in the right places, whilst protecting the environment and providing jobs and public services. "Today's proposals will mean the planning system can respond faster to the housing market and local needs, so that more homes can be built where they're needed. At the same time, we're strengthening protection of the Green Belt through greater scrutiny of planning applications. And today's announcement will also encourage private development to pay for public services like schools, roads, and affordable housing which are needed to create sustainable communities."

In addition to today’s planning package, the ODPM is publishing jointly with HM Treasury, Housing Policy: an Overview, setting out the importance of the Government's housing agenda for achieving the UK's social and economic priorities and for delivering stability and opportunity.

Chancellor Gordon Brown said: "The economic stability and rising prosperity delivered since 1997, including the lowest mortgage rates for 40 years, has already given a million more people the confidence to become home owners. Over the next five years we want to extend home-ownership to a further million people.

"We already have a wide-ranging strategy in place to help those seeking to buy a home for the first time, including shared equity schemes and raising the stamp duty threshold so that over 50% of first time buyers pay no stamp duty. But as Kate Barker's analysis and today's paper make clear, we must now go further to boost the supply of housing to ensure affordable homes for the future."

The Government needs to reform the planning system to ensure it can respond better to housing market changes to address the long-term costs to the economy and the problems faced by first-time buyers, who are currently being priced out of the housing market, especially in the South East.

By 2002 just 37% of new households could afford to buy a home, compared to 46% of new households in the late 80s. Analysis shows that if we continue at the rate of house building we have seen, that figure is likely to drop to a third. Over the last 30 years housing demand has increased due to demographic change and rising incomes, yet new housing supply has dropped by 30% compared to several decades ago.

Minister for Housing and Planning Yvette Cooper said:

"Currently the planning system fails to take proper account of pressures in the housing market. The result is some areas with chronic shortages and building rates far lower than 30 years ago, whilst others face problems of low demand and boarded up homes because building has outstripped demand.

"There are huge social and economic consequences when the planning system fails whether it be for first time buyers and businesses in high demand areas or deprived communities on low demand estates. That is why it is important for the planning system to take better account of pressures in the housing market and to keep the priority for brownfield development."

The Government is consulting on changes to the planning system to:

 take into account house prices and other market information when deciding what level of house building is necessary;

 plan for a 15-year time frame with a rolling five-year supply of appropriate land

 review regional plans when there are changes in housing market conditions and;

 Continue to focus on brownfield sites for development.

A new Circular on planning obligations, also published today, will help deliver this additional housing and the supporting infrastructure more quickly by streamlining the operation of the current system and making it more transparent.

Notes to Editors 1. Yvette Cooper announced to Parliament today that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has published:

 A policy consultation paper 'Planning for Housing Provision' which sets out a proposed new approach to planning for housing provision, in response to recommendations in the Barker Review of Housing Supply published in March 2004.

 A consultation paper on a proposed new Green Belt Direction, as foreshadowed in the ODPM 5-year strategy 'Homes for All', published in January 2005.

 A new Circular on Planning Obligations, following the consultation launched in November 2004.

 Research on the value for money of delivering affordable housing through planning obligations.

2. Alongside these documents ODPM is also publishing jointly with HM Treasury, Housing Policy: An Overview, setting out the importance of the Government's housing agenda for achieving the UK's social and economic priorities and for delivering stability and opportunity.

Planning for Housing Delivery

3. The Barker Review of Housing Supply report, Delivering stability: Securing our future housing needs, published in March 2004, made a number of recommendations relevant to the planning system, in particular, its ability to release land for housing effectively. Planning was seen as a key constraint on the delivery of land for housing. The revision of current policy on planning for housing, set out in Planning Policy Guidance Note 3: Housing (PPG3), was regarded as a priority, in order to improve delivery of sufficient homes and to achieve housing targets more effectively.

4. ODPM's consultation paper 'Planning for Housing Provision' sets out the Government's objectives for delivering a better supply of housing through the planning system. The paper proposes a new policy approach to ensuring that land is allocated in plans to better meet the need for housing, respond more effectively to changes in demand, and promote consumer choice. It continues the priority for brownfield development. The Government will respond to the other recommendations of the Barker Review by the end of the year.

5. This consultation will be an important input to a new Planning Policy Statement on Planning for Housing (PPS3). In the Autumn Government will consult on a new draft PPS3 which will set out the broad national policy framework for planning for housing. The aim will be to ensure that the planning system is used to respond to housing need and ensure that everyone has the opportunity of a decent home, which they can afford, within a community which is sustainable and in which they want to live and work.

6. The new draft PPS3 will also draw on the consultation paper 'Planning for Mixed Communities' published by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in January 2005, and the responses to it.

7. The consultation paper is available on the ODPM website:

http://www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/odpm_planning/documents/page/odpm_plan_039132.pdf

Consultation on a New Green Belt Direction

8. The Government recognises the need to protect the Green Belt in taking forward new development. It has set a target for each region to maintain or increase the area of Green Belt designated in local plans. As a demonstration of the continuing importance the Government attaches to the protection of the openness of the Green Belt, and to the prevention of urban sprawl, the ODPM is also publishing today a consultation paper on a proposed new Town and Country Planning (Green Belt) Direction.

9. This new Direction would, for the first time, specifically require that planning applications for inappropriate development of certain types and scale in the Green Belt, which local planning authorities are minded to approve, should be referred to the First Secretary of State. While the Secretary of State would continue to use his powers of intervention selectively, the new Direction would ensure that he has the opportunity to consider whether to call in for a public inquiry and his own determination, the more significant and potentially most harmful development proposals in the Green Belt.

10. The consultation document is available on the ODPM website: http://www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/odpm_planning/documents/page/odpm_plan_039084.pdf

Planning obligations

11. The system of planning obligations is important in delivering essential infrastructure to ensure all new development is sustainable in planning terms. However, planning obligations have in the past been responsible for delays in the system. The ODPM is today publishing a new Circular on planning obligations - Circular 05/2005 - aimed at speeding up the system, to support the delivery of development, including new housing.

12. In November 2004 the ODPM published a draft revised Circular on planning obligations. This led to a very fruitful consultation period in which 279 respondents contributed their views in writing and discussions were held in regional seminars and bilateral meetings.

13. The aims of the new Circular are to increase transparency, predictability, accountability and speed in the negotiation of planning obligations, and to promote the good practice that already exists in many local authorities. It also brings planning obligations into line with the new arrangements established by the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, and provides a firmer policy basis for the provision of affordable housing through planning obligations.

14. The Circular will be supported by the publication of good practice guidance on the use of planning obligations later this year. A standard legal document for planning agreements and unilateral undertakings will accompany this guidance.

15. The revision of planning obligations policy is intended to improve the existing system. In the meantime, the Government is continuing to examine Kate Barker's recommendations for a Planning-gain Supplement and associated changes to the system of planning obligations, made in the final report of her Review of Housing Supply. The Government will announce its full response to the Barker Report by the end of the year.

16. The revised circular is available on the ODPM website: http://www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/odpm_planning/documents/page/odpm_plan_039133.pdf

Value for Money of Delivering Affordable Housing through s106

17. In November 2003, ODPM commissioned the University of Cambridge and University of Sheffield to undertake a study on the value for money of delivering affordable housing through s106 agreements. The aim was to provide evidence on how much affordable housing is being delivered through planning obligations and how it is being funded. The study also examined how far providing affordable housing in this way contributes to mixed communities.

18. The study confirms the importance of using planning obligations in the delivery of affordable housing. It indicates that as developers and local authorities are becoming more familiar with using planning obligations, the system is improving. The study also found that delivering affordable housing in this way makes a valuable contribution to the Government’s aims of mixed communities, in particular by providing access to land in high value areas.

19. However, the research also suggests there is room for improvement. The main drawbacks of the current system are perceived to be the delays in negotiation and the resulting costs. The new Circular on planning obligations aims to address some of these issues.

20. The report is available on the ODPM website: http://www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/odpm_planning/documents/page/odpm_plan_039124.hcsp

  650,000 OVER 20 YEARS = 125 HOUSES EVERY WORKING DAY! YOUR COMMUNITY WILL EXPAND ! - HOW WILL WE ALL COPE WITH INFRASTRUCTURE ?  YOU CAN NOW MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD HERE!

SIGN THE PETITION.

650,000.  That's how many new homes will be built in the South East by the year 2026 if current Government plans go ahead.  One thing that is very clear is Government will expect Wokingham District to take part of this new development.

We all know the problems we have accommodating development without sufficient infrastructure - congested roads, too few Doctors, Dentist, Schools and Hospitals.

We also know the need for affordable housing for our children to live in.  But we can't continue to develop on this scale without the proper infrastructure in place first.  It will cost approximately £850 million to address the current situation in this area.

Help us to send a message to the Government by signing our petition - which asks for infrastructure to be provided before any extra housing development takes place.  We need to act now before the decisions are taken.  This is our opportunity to influence Government thinking - help us to take it by signing today.

You can sign the petition electronically by going to the 'Sign Up' and completing the required information. 

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 If you would like to print a copy of the petition then click onto 650,000 22ND May 2005

email your friends and family hyperlink www.seeds.org.uk and alert them to what is coming for the South East - we need to spread the word. From small seeds we grow!