Table of contents

On 17 November 2022 the House of Lords is due to debate the following motion:

Lord Whitty (Labour) to move that this House takes note of the multiple problems affecting all tenures in the housing market in England; and the case for a coherent strategy to encompass the social, economic, and environmental aspects of housing and construction.

This briefing highlights a selection of key statistics on housing in England, particularly supply, affordability and quality, alongside further reading. The final section then highlights some commentary and policy on future house building and environmental standards.

The House of Lords Library has published several other briefings providing commentary on housing issues relevant to this debate, including:

1. Housing stock

This section contains statistics on the number of dwellings in England and how this has changed over time. It then summarises statistics on the number of ‘new’ dwellings each year, including breakdowns by type and location.

1.1 Current stock

According to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), as of 31 March 2021 there were 24.9 million dwellings in England, an increase of 0.9% on the previous year. Of these:

  • 9 million were owner-occupied, an increase of 135,000 since the previous year
  • 9 million were privately rented, a rise of 64,000
  • 1 million were social and affordable rented housing (made up of housing authorities and local authority dwellings), an increase of 18,000

The following table shows the increase in dwellings and the population (taken from Office for National Statistics (ONS) populations estimates) in 10-year intervals since 1981:

Dwellings and population since 1981 (millions)
Total dwellings (millions)  Increase in dwellings (millions) Population (millions)  Increase in population (millions)
1981 18 46.8
1991 19.7 1.7 47.9 1.1
2001 21.2 1.5 49.4 1.5
2011 23 1.8 53.1 3.7
2021 24.9 1.9 56.5 3.4

The following graph shows the changes in the proportions of each tenure of dwelling since 1981; that is, the percentage that were owner occupied, privately rented or social and affordable rented housing at a given time:

Dwelling by tenure % since 1981
Graph: Dwellings by tenure (%) since 1981

It shows an increase in the proportion of privately rented dwellings since the 1990s, and a fall in the proportion of social and affordable housing across the whole time period. This is because the number of owner-occupied and privately rented dwellings generally rose across the period, and the number of social and affordable dwellings generally decreased or remained stable. This is shown in the next graph:

Number of dwellings by tenure each year since 1981
Graph: Number of dwellings by tenure each year since 1981

The DLUHC statistics also reported that there were “653,000 vacant dwellings in England on 4 October 2021, a decrease of 12,600 (1.9%) from 665,600 on 5 October 2020”. This represented 2.6% of the dwelling stock. It also found there were “237,300 long-term vacant dwellings in England on 4 October 2021, a decrease of 31,000 (11.6%) from 268,400 on 5 October 2020”. This represented 1.0% of the dwelling stock.

Further information on the number of dwellings statistics, including geographical density, can be found in the full DLUHC report.

1.2 New dwellings

In its latest report on net additional dwellings (new dwellings minus lost dwellings), DLUHC reported that there were 216,490 net additional dwellings in England in 2020–21. This was 11% fewer new dwellings than in 2019–20.

The new dwellings in 2020–21 were made up of:

  • 194,060 new-build homes
  • 23,790 gains from change of use between non-domestic and residential
  • 3,870 from conversions between houses and flats
  • 530 other gains (caravans, house boats etc)

There were 5,760 demolitions.

The government committed in its 2019 manifesto to building 300,000 new homes annually by the mid-2020s:

[We will] continue our progress towards our target of 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s. This will see us build at least a million more homes, of all tenures, over the next parliament—in the areas that really need them.

This pledge was recently backed by Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Michael Gove.

However, there is no consensus over the true number of homes needed. For example, estimates from Crisis and the National Housing Federation in 2018 suggested there should be 340,000 new homes every year until 2031, with 145,000 of these in the social and affordable category. Further information on the difficulty of assessing the need for new housing can be found in the House of Commons Library briefing, ‘Tackling the under-supply of housing’, 4 February 2022.

The following graph, based on DHLUC data, shows net additional dwellings each year since 2000–01:

Annual net additional dwellings since 2000–01
Graph: Annual net additional dwellings since 2000–01

The statistics also showed that the largest number of net additional dwellings in 2020–21 was in the South East, and the lowest number was in the North East. The following table shows the numbers and proportions of net additional dwellings by area:

Net additional dwellings in 2020–21 by area and percentage of total
North East North West Yorkshire and the Humber East Midlands West Midlands East of England London South East South West
Number 7,791 28,288 15,999 20,223 19,310 25,644 37,183 38,794 23,257
Percent of total 3.6% 13.1% 7.4% 9.3% 8.9% 11.8% 17.2% 17.9% 10.7%

The DLUHC report stated that there were 52,100 affordable homes delivered, which represented about 23% of the total number of new additions to the housing stock delivered in 2020–21. These affordable homes included:

  • 34,000 under affordable renting schemes (including social rent)
  • 18,000 on shared ownership or affordable home ownership schemes

Trends in new affordable housing since 1991–92 can be seen in the following graph:

New affordable homes each year since early 1990s
Graph: New affordable homes each year since early 1990s

The November 2021 DLUHC report on affordable housing explained the wide variations in affordable housing builds across this period as follows:

The number of affordable homes delivered has varied considerably since 2011–12. The supply of affordable housing is dependent on funding programmes, and as part of a house building cycle, delivery is normally lower in the first years of any new programme. The peak in 2014–15 is explained by the end of the 2011–15 affordable homes programme and the increase in the number of completions since 2015–16 reflects the transition to the 2016–23 affordable homes programme. Unlike during the 2011–15 programme, every year between 2015–16 and 2019–20 saw an increase in the delivery of affordable homes, while the decrease in 2020–21 may be due, in large part, to the restrictions introduced during spring 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

There also have been changes in the mix of different tenures of affordable housing. Up to 2011–12, social rent was the most common affordable housing tenure for new supply, but affordable rent has become the most common since its introduction in 2011–12. This change was driven in part by the 2011–15 affordable homes programme, as well as subsequent affordable homes programmes, which funded affordable rent as a tenure. Recent programmes also fund shared ownership, which contributed to an increase in these properties, from 4,084 in 2015–16 to 17,097 in the latest year.

Government statistics on housebuilding completions indicate that, in 2021–22:

  • 88% of private enterprise completions were houses, and 12% were flats
  • 70% of housing association completions were houses, and 30% were flats

The majority of properties completed (both houses and flats) were three-bedroom (37%). Only 6% of completions were one-bedroom properties.

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2. Affordability

This section contains statistics on the increasing cost of buying or renting homes and their affordability when considered alongside earnings. It includes breakdowns by geographical area.

2.1 Buying

According to the ONS, the average UK house price was £296,000 in August 2022, £36,000 higher than August 2021. Average house prices increased over the year to:

  • £316,000 in England (up 14.3%)
  • £220,000 in Wales (up 14.6%)
  • £195,000 in Scotland (up 9.7%)
  • £169,000 in Northern Ireland (up 9.6%)

Ten years ago, in August 2012, the average house price in the UK was £171,000 and the average price in England was £180,000. Prices in England have gone up by 76% across this period.

Average house prices varied considerably by English region, with the highest figures in London (£552,755) and the South East (£406,981) and the lowest in the North East (£164,395), and Yorkshire and the Humber (£210,539). However, all areas experienced growth, with the South West experiencing the highest:

The South West was the region with the highest annual house price growth, with average prices increasing by 17.0% in the year to August 2022. This was down from a growth rate of 21.1% in July 2022.

The lowest annual house price growth was in London, where average prices increased by 8.3% over the year to August 2022, down from 10.1% in July 2022. Despite having the lowest annual house price growth rate, London’s average house prices remain the most expensive of any region in the UK, with a record average price of £553,000 in August 2022.

The North East continued to have the lowest average house price at £164,000 in August 2022, which is a record high for the region.

The ONS has also produced statistics comparing house prices (and their growth) with earnings. The latest of these, published on 23 March 2022, found that:

In 2021, we estimate that full-time employees could typically expect to spend around 9.1 times their workplace-based annual earnings on purchasing a home in England. This is a statistically significant increase compared with 2020, when it was 7.9 times their workplace-based annual earnings.

The following graph shows the change in this ratio since 1997 (when it was first produced by the ONS):

Workplace-based earnings to house price ratio since 1997
Graph: Workplace-based earnings to house price ratio since 1997

The graph shows that the workplace-based earnings to house price ratio has increased from around 3.5 to 9 since 1997.

Again, these increases have varied by region. The following table shows the increases in the ratio by English region at five-yearly intervals since 1997 (but finishing in 2021):

Workplace-based earnings to house price ratios since 1997
1997 2002 2007 2012 2017 2021 Overall increase
North East 2.98 3.29 5.79 5.00 5.21 5.45 82.9%
North West 3.01 3.51 5.83 5.24 5.79 6.43 113.6%
Yorkshire and the Humber 3.12 3.55 6.03 5.35 5.89 6.42 105.8%
East Midlands 3.17 4.18 6.43 5.58 6.84 7.78 145.4%
West Midlands 3.40 4.42 6.48 5.90 6.63 7.50 120.6%
East 3.68 5.78 7.77 7.27 9.66 10.53 186.1%
London 4.00 6.57 7.94 8.53 12.38 12.97 224.3%
South East 4.17 6.38 8.40 7.99 10.25 11.12 166.7%
South West 3.78 5.98 8.29 7.59 8.85 9.97 163.8%

The ONS housing affordability bulletin offers more commentary on these regional variations, including information on house price ratios across local authorities. For example, it stated:

In 2021, the average house price was between 12 and 24 times the average workplace-based earnings in 23% of local authority areas. These proportions have increased since 2020, when house prices in 15% of local authority areas were between 12 and 24 times the average workplace-based earnings.

Only 16 local authority areas in England and Wales had affordability ratios of five or less, compared with 27 in 2020, and 270 in 1997.

The briefing also found that new-build dwellings were less affordable:

In 2021, prices of newly built dwellings in England were 10.3 times the median annual earnings of full-time employees. In existing dwellings, prices were 9.0 times the median annual earnings of full-time employees.

However, there are signs in recent months that house prices may be decreasing. For example, Halifax reported that they fell by 0.4% in October 2022, possibly as a result of increasing interest rates and mortgage costs.

2.2 Renting

The ONS’s latest private rental market statistics, covering 2021/22, found that the median monthly rent in England was £795. The ONS said this was the highest the figure has been. In addition, it reported that London had the highest median monthly rent (£1,450) and the North East had the lowest (£505).

Broken down by type of property and area, the ONS found that the medians for:

  • studio flats ranged from £400 to £950 a month
  • one-bedroom properties ranged from £425 to £1,125
  • three-bedroom properties ranged from £495 to £1,525

The ONS also uses this data, alongside household income data, for a publication on private rental affordability. The latest edition, covering the financial year ending 2020, found that:

  • Private renters on median income could expect to spend 23% of their income on a median priced rented home in England.
  • The East Midlands and North West are the most affordable rental regions for lower-income households living in the region.
  • In London, only a household in the higher-income quartile would be able to rent a property without spending more than 30% of its income on rent.

The ONS deems rental properties affordable if a household does not spend more than 30% of its income on rent. It said that “the East Midlands and the North West were the only regions in England where rent prices at the lower quartile are affordable for those at the lower quartile of household income”.

However, the ONS did note some improvement in private rental affordability between 2013 and 2020:

For most regions, private rental prices have become slightly more affordable since 2013, as the proportion of income required to rent in 2020 was less than in 2013. This indicates that average incomes have risen further than rental prices.

The East of England saw the largest reduction in affordability, where the percentage of income needed to rent increased from 23% to 26% between 2013 and 2020. Throughout this period, a household on median income in London would have needed to spend greater than 30% of their income on median rent, ranging from 50% in 2017 to 38% in 2020.

The statistics for England also show a small improvement in affordability for all income brackets across this period. For example, the average rent spend of the lower-income group renting a lower-rent property decreased from 30.3% to 29.7%, and middle-income spend on medium-rent properties decreased from 24.5% to 23.4%.

However, the English Housing Survey, which bases its data on a survey of households, estimated that the proportions spent on rent may now be higher. It reported that private renters spent around 31% of their income on rent in 2020–21. It noted this was higher than the proportion spent by social renters (27%) and higher than mortgagors paid for their mortgage (18%). The proportions ranged from 26% in Yorkshire and the Humber to 35% in London and South East England. It also reported that people aged under 25 or over 65 paid higher proportions of their income on rent (37%+) than those between those ages (between 27% and 31%).

The Regulator of Social Housing stated that the weekly rent price for social housing increased in 2021/22 by 1.6%. Rents also varied by regions:

The average increase in general needs (social rent) weekly net rents was 1.6%, in line with the limit set for 2021–22. The average weekly general needs (social rent) rent across England was £94.31, with variations across different regions of the country. Rents were lowest in the North East (£78.89) and highest in London (£116.16).

There are reports that rental prices have been increasing further in recent months. For example, experimental ONS statistics estimated 3.6% growth in England in the year up to September 2022, the highest it recorded:

In England, private rental prices grew by 3.6% in the 12 months to September 2022, representing the highest annual growth rate since June 2008. When London is excluded from England, private rental prices increased by 4.0% in the 12 months to September 2022. This is up from an increase of 3.9% in August 2022, and the highest annual growth rate since this series began in 2006.

It also noted reports from the Association of Residential Letting Agents and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors that demand for rental properties was increasing, putting further pressures on future supply and prices.

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3. Quality and suitability of housing

This section contains statistics on housing quality and overcrowding, taken from the English Housing Survey.

3.1 English Housing Survey

The English Housing Survey publishes reports on a range of housing-related issues, including:

  • private and social rented sectors
  • regional trends
  • energy
  • housing quality and feeling safe from fire
  • older people’s housing

The reports cover issues like quality and space; who lives in certain tenures of housing and why; prospects of buying homes; and housing satisfaction.

The main report for 2020–21 published some headline findings, including:

  • On average, owner-occupied homes are larger and are more likely to have outside space than rented homes. Homes in the social sector tended to be smaller (average usable floor area of 66m2) than homes in the private rented sector (74m2) and owner-occupied homes (109m2). Dwellings in London (55%) were less likely to have a private plot than the rest of England (85%). 12% of dwellings in London had no plot at all.
  • The social sector had a lower proportion of non-decent homes than the private rented and owner-occupied sectors in 2020. 13% of social rented sector dwellings failed to meet the decent homes standard, compared to 21% of those privately rented and 16% of those that were owner-occupied.
  • Between 2019–20 and 2020–21, well-being levels declined and loneliness increased. In 2020–21, the average life satisfaction score was 7.3 (out of 10), down from 7.7. Average life satisfaction among owner-occupiers was nearly one point higher than for those living in the social rented sector (7.5 compared with 6.7). Owner-occupiers were also less anxious than renters, scoring 2.8, compared with 3.8 for social renters and 3.3 for private renters. Overall, 9% said that they were lonely often or always, up from 6% in 2019–20. Social renters were more likely to report that they were often or always lonely (17% compared with 6% of owner-occupiers and 9% of private renters).
  • Energy efficiency in the English housing stock has continued to improve, with the average standard assessment procedure rating increasing from 65 points to 66. The social sector was more energy efficient than the private sector; in the social rented sector, the majority of dwellings (66%) were in energy efficient ratio bands A to C, compared to 42% of private rented and owner-occupied dwellings.

Information on the decent homes standard for social housing can be found on the DLUHC website. The government has also committed to introducing a decent homes standard in the private rented sector.

In addition, the housing survey reported on overcrowding in dwellings, finding that this appeared to have decreased in 2020–21:

The overall rate of overcrowding in England in 2020–21 was 3%, with approximately 738,000 households living in overcrowded conditions. This is a decrease from 2019–20 where 4% of households were overcrowded (around 829,000 households).

It found overcrowding varied noticeably by tenures, with higher numbers in both private and social rented households than in owner-occupied households:

Overcrowding was more prevalent in the rented sectors than for owner-occupiers. In 2020–21, 1% of owner-occupiers (172,000 households) were overcrowded compared with 8% of social renters (316,000) and 6% of private renters (250,000). Overcrowding was more prevalent in the social rented sector than in the private rented sector.

Overcrowding in the private rented sector has fallen from 7% in 2019–20 to 6% in 2020–21. Changes seen for owner-occupiers and social renters were not statistically significant.

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4. Future housebuilding and environmental standards

4.1 Committee on Climate Change

The Committee on Climate Change published a report in February 2019 on the future of UK housing. It stated that the UK’s housing was not “fit for the future”, and that progress had stalled on ensuring it was fit for meeting the challenges of climate change and people’s wellbeing:

Greenhouse gas emission reductions from UK housing have stalled, and efforts to adapt the housing stock for higher temperatures, flooding and water scarcity are falling far behind the increase in risk from the changing climate. The quality, design and use of homes across the UK must be improved now to address the challenges of climate change. Doing so will also improve health, wellbeing and comfort, including for vulnerable groups such as the elderly and those living with chronic illnesses.

It made a large number of recommendations, including five priorities for government action:

  • Performance and compliance: The way new homes are built and existing homes retrofitted often falls short of design standards […] Greater levels of inspection and stricter enforcement of building standards are required, alongside stiffer penalties for non-compliance. The ‘as-built’ performance of homes, for example how thermally efficient they are, must also be better monitored. Closing the energy use performance gap in new homes (the difference between how they are designed and how they actually perform) could save between £70 and £260 in energy bills per household per year.
  • Skills gap: […] Key steps for the UK in reducing emissions, like the wider deployment of heat pumps, require new skills. The UK government should use initiatives under the construction sector deal to tackle this low-carbon skills gap. New support to train designers, builders and installers is needed for low-carbon heating, energy and water efficiency, ventilation and thermal comfort, and property-level flood resilience.
  • Retrofitting existing homes: The 29 million existing homes across the UK must be made low-carbon, low-energy and resilient to a changing climate. This is a UK infrastructure priority and should be supported as such by HM Treasury. Homes should use low-carbon sources of heating such as heat pumps and heat networks. The uptake of energy efficiency measures such as loft and wall insulation must be increased. At the same time, upgrades or repairs to homes should include increasing the uptake of: passive cooling measures (shading and ventilation); measures to reduce indoor moisture; improved air quality and water efficiency; and, in homes at risk of flooding, the installation of property-level flood protection.
  • Building new homes: […] New homes must be built to be low-carbon, energy and water efficient and climate resilient. The costs of building to a specification that achieves the aims set out in this report are not prohibitive, and getting design right from the outset is vastly cheaper than forcing retrofit later. From 2025 at the latest, no new homes should be connected to the gas grid. They should instead be heated through low carbon sources, have ultra-high levels of energy efficiency alongside appropriate ventilation and, where possible, be timber-framed. A statutory requirement for reducing overheating risks in new builds is needed, alongside more ambitious water efficiency standards, property-level flood protection in flood risk areas, and increasing requirements for greenspace and sustainable transport in planning and guidance.
  • Finance and funding: There are urgent funding needs which must be addressed now with the support of HM Treasury: low-carbon heating (currently only funded up to 2021), and resources for local authorities, in particular building control. The UK government must implement the Green Finance Taskforce [information on the government’s progress in this area can be found at ‘Update to green finance strategy’] recommendations around green mortgages, green loans and fiscal incentives to help finance upfront costs, as well as improving consumer access to data and advice. It should widen the scope of these measures to include resilience.

Since the publication of the report, the government has published a ‘Heat and buildings strategy’. Published in October 2021, this signposted how the government intended to achieve its net zero targets through the gradual decarbonisation of UK buildings, including homes. For example, it set out plans to phase out the installation of new natural gas boilers by 2035, bolster the availability and affordability of heat pumps, and increase funding for the decarbonisation of social housing.

In December 2021, the government also announced changes to building regulations requiring CO2 emissions from new-build homes to be around 30% lower than current standards.

The Committee on Climate Change published its assessment of the heat and buildings strategy on 9 March 2022. It welcomed the setting of clear targets in the strategy and said the signs were “encouraging”. However, it also called for more details on many aspects of the strategy and believed more funding would be required to achieve its aims. It concluded:

The government is beginning a multi-decade programme of policies which will fundamentally transform how our homes use energy. At the same time, the price of that energy is driving sharp increases in the cost of living. Navigating this situation will be tough, but the multiple benefits of reducing the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels have never been clearer.

4.2 House of Lords Built Environment Committee

The House of Lords Built Environment Committee published a comprehensive report on housebuilding on 10 January 2022. It covered: housing types and tenures; planning; the construction industry and addressing skills shortages; and design and quality.

The committee stressed the need to improve housing supply, arguing that “too many people are living in expensive, unsuitable, poor quality homes”. The summary of the report split its recommendations to address this issue into seven key themes:

  • Housing for the elderly.The committee noted that the UK population is ageing. It stated that one in four people are estimated to be over 65 by 2050, with a related increase in older people living alone. Housing supply should reflect this in the types of new homes built, with a “mix of ‘mainstream’ housing and specialist housing for later living”.
  • Small and medium-enterprise (SME) housebuilders. The committee claimed that the number of homes built by SMEs had “collapsed” in recent years. It said the government and local authorities should support SMEs by reducing planning risks by introducing a dedicated “fast-track planning process” for SMEs; making more building sites available; and increasing access to finance.
  • Planning reform. The committee argued that uncertainty about future planning reform had a “chilling effect” on housebuilding. It noted that the government had published a planning white paper in August 2020. However, the committee stated that the government needed to set out its strategy for implementing its planning reform agenda. The committee claimed that spending on planning had decreased by 15% since 2010, which was causing “delays, issues with recruitment, and staff shortages”. The report urged the government to ensure that local planning authorities had the resources and staff they need to provide an efficient planning service.
  • Social housing provision. The committee said there was a “serious shortage” of social housing. It claimed that many tenants who would previously have been in social housing were now living in “expensive private rented accommodation”, with their housing costs subsidised by housing benefit. The committee recommended a “transition” to spending more on social housing, which it argued would decrease the housing benefit budget in the long term. The committee also criticised the social housing right to buy scheme. It recommended that the scheme be reformed to allow local authorities to use more of the receipts to replenish their social housing stock.
  • Help to buy scheme. The report criticised the government’s home ownership schemes(such as help to buy equity loans). The committee said it had received evidence that the schemes “inflate prices by more than their subsidy value”. The report concluded that the schemes “do not provide good value for money, which would be better spent on increasing housing supply”.
  • Skills shortages. The committee claimed there was a shortage of skilled workers in the construction, design and planning sectors, which had not been addressed by the “construction industry training board […] over many years”. It called for the board to upgrade its training offer, or the government should “consider potential alternative models” for a national construction career body. The report also claimed that apprenticeships in construction had “fallen consistently” since the apprenticeship levyhad been introduced. It called for the government to review the levy to address the issue.

In addition, addressing the quality of housing, the report highlighted the government’s introduction of the New Homes Ombudsman, which can investigate complaints about the quality of new homes, and an increased focus on “beauty” and quality within design and planning. However, it also made a number of recommendations in this area; for example, it called for the government to establish a clear implementation timetable for the future homes standard, which would require new-build homes to be future-proofed with low-carbon heating and high energy efficiency.

In conclusion, the report stressed the importance of the government setting out a clear strategy for the sector to deal with all the issues it faced:

Evidence to our inquiry has shown how vital it is that new homes are built to help meet housing demand. Building more homes will not address affordability pressures in the short term but is an essential first step to ensure that demand can be met in the long term. We heard that meeting future housing demand will require more homes of all kinds.

To meet that challenge, the sector needs certainty and a clear direction from the government about reforms to the planning system and more resources to address chronic delays. It is also very important to address skills shortages in the construction and planning sectors and to allocate additional land for homes. Only if all the challenges we have identified are addressed will it be possible to boost housing supply and affordability and meet the government’s targets in the years ahead.

The government sought to address each issue raised in its response to the report, published in March 2022. For example, it said that its £11.5bn affordable homes programme 2021–26, providing government grants to increase the construction of affordable housing, included the “delivery of new supported housing for older, disabled and other vulnerable people”.

On skills shortages in the construction industry, the government said it had reviewed the construction industry training board (CITB) as part of a 2017 review of the industry training boards. The government said the CITB had subsequently implemented a three-year transformation programme and had a new governance structure. The government stated it kept the performance of all arms-length bodies under review and it was “currently considering the appropriate time” for the next industry training board review. The government also said the apprenticeships levy was an important part of its apprenticeship programme, and it was increasing funding for apprenticeships to “£2.7 billion by 2024–25”.

Responding to the committee’s query about the future homes standard, the government said it had set out a clear implementation timeline for it to be introduced by 2025. It said the changes to building regulations outlined above were a stepping stone to the standard, and that: “a full technical consultation on the future homes standard is planned for spring 2023, in advance of the necessary legislation being introduced in 2024 and implementation in 2025”.

The government also highlighted some of its planning policies and changes. For example, it said reform proposals had been included in its February 2022 levelling up white paper, which would “deliver better outcomes by fostering beautiful places that people can be proud of, improving democracy and engagement in planning decisions”. The government said it was “pleased that housebuilding has remained steady since we announced our changes to the planning system, with most housebuilding now back up and running after Covid-19 impacts”.

Following on from this, in May 2022, Boris Johnson’s government introduced the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill in the House of Commons. The bill would implement a range of policies associated with the ‘levelling up agenda’, as set out in the February 2022 levelling up white paper, including changes to the planning system. A government press release summarised the planning measures:

  • Local plans—the way in which councils set the vision for future development in their area and decide whether to give planning permission—will gain stronger legal weight and be made simpler to produce. Communities will have a major say in these plans giving them more opportunity to shape what happens in their areas. Currently 61% of councils do not have an up-to-date local plan, which leaves communities exposed to development on which they haven’t had a meaningful say.
  • A digitised planning system making plans and planning applications fully available on your smartphone.
  • Stronger protections for the environment in local plans, empowering councils to make better use of brownfield land and protect precious greenbelt land.
  • Local design codes will be made mandatory so that developers have to respect styles drawn up and favoured locally—from the layout or materials used, to how it provides green space.

The bill is currently progressing through its House of Commons stages, with no date for its report stage announced at the time of writing. Following the recent changes of prime minister, it is currently unclear how the legislation will progress. For example, it had been expected that further planning changes would be announced by Liz Truss’s government in November 2022.

For further information on the contents of the bill, including a summary of recent proposals for planning reform, see the bill briefing from the House of Commons Library (1 June 2022).

The House of Lords is due to debate the Built Environment Committee’s report on 10 November 2022.

4.3 Read more

Photo by James Feaver on Unsplash