By Ritchie Clapson, CEng MIStructE, co-founder of propertyCEO
Included in the Queen’s speech on 11th May 2021 was an announcement that the government will be introducing a new planning bill. This is likely to come before Parliament in the Autumn.
“The purpose of the Bill is to:
- Create a simpler, faster and more modern planning system to replace the current one that dates back to 1947, and ensuring we no longer remain tied to procedures designed for the last century.
- Ensure homes and infrastructure – like schools and hospitals – can be delivered more quickly across England.
- Transform our planning system from a slow document-based one to a more efficient and easier to use digital and map-based service, allowing more active public engagement in the development of their local area.
- Help deliver vital infrastructure whilst helping to protect and enhance the environment by introducing quicker, simpler frameworks for funding infrastructure and assessing environmental impacts and opportunities.”
The commitment to introducing the new bill is a welcome move.
We’re a nation of entrepreneurs; we have many individuals who are willing, able and committed to get started in business and who can make a difference. And we also have a housing crisis in this country for one key reason; because over the years, we just haven’t built enough homes.
So, if we put politics to one side for a moment and consider what the people in this country really need; the answer, quite simply, is more new homes.
Over the last year we’ve seen the government take huge strides towards making the delivery of new homes not only easier but substantially quicker, with the introduction of new permitted development rights. Not only have these been focused on recycling our redundant brownfield sites, they have also enabled many entrepreneurs to transition into small scale property development and start to deliver some of these much-needed homes.
The government’s commitment to easing the planning rules and bureaucracy that have frustrated the delivery of new homes historically can only be positive.
Let’s cut out the red tape that’s slowed us in the past. Let’s build a dynamic and flexible planning system that embraces technology while ensuring our local planning authorities have the resources and scope to prevent a development free-for-all.
And then let’s get out there and build, build, build!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ritchie Clapson CEng MIStructE is a veteran property developer of almost 40 years and co-founder of propertyCEO, a nationwide property development and training company that helps people create a successful property development business in their spare time. It makes use of students’ existing life skills while teaching them the property, business, and mindset knowledge they need to undertake small scale developments successfully, with the emphasis on utilising existing permitted development rights to minimize risk and maximize returns.
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