Outlets including The Mirror, Greenock Telegraph and Building.co.uk report that ministers have been warned against prioritising homes for the ‘fortunate few’ as part of an overhaul of planning rules

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick MP (Con) has claimed that a major overhaul of England's planning system will speed up the housebuilding process and ‘cut red tape but not standards’ by protecting green spaces while making it easier to build on brownfield sites.

This week the Government published the new planning White Paper, Planning for the Future, which removes the section 106 agreements that oblige developers to contribute to local infrastructure - including building affordable homes.

This also removes the right of local authorities to determine many individual planning applications, as the new system proposes that local authorities will draw up local plans designating all land in their areas as being either for ‘growth’, ‘renewal’ or ‘protection’.

Sites zoned for growth will receive automatic permission if developers adhere to locally drawn up design guides.

Local authorities will be required to draw up the local plans in 30 months, down from an average of seven years currently. But Labour branded the move a ‘developers’ charter’, while the Campaign to Protect Rural England questioned how much local involvement there would be under the proposed system.

Full articles:

The Mirror - Tories to scrap current system that makes housing giants pay for affordable homes

Greenock Telegraph - Row over Government’s drive to cut planning red tape

Building.co.uk - Government sets out far-reaching planning overhaul