Reports from the weekend suggest that the Government's heavily trailed overhaul of the planning system is now likely to be, at best, watered-down, and potentially abandoned all together. This is possibly a reflection of the fact that the system isn't as broken as some people like to claim - with the housebuilding industry delivering best-in-a-generation numbers of new houses in the year before the pandemic, and demonstrating excellence in showing how an industry can successfully come out of the pandemic.
A stable environment without the threat of constant reform and tinkering is the best platform on which businesses can thrive, and if these reports are correct and the planning system can continue to be "business as usual", then this will allow further investment and homes to continue to be delivered at record pace. Money would be better spent recruiting new planning officials to local authorities to assist in discharging and working through conditions with developers, to allow consented-in-principle schemes to become viable developments much quicker.Disclaimer
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