The government will allow new homes to be built in England automatically, housing secretary Robert Jenrick announced this weekend.
Writing in the Telegraph on Saturday, Jenrick says that later this week he is “bringing forward radical and necessary reforms to our planning system to get Britain building and drive our economic recovery.”
In the piece, he decries a “complex and slow” planning system that he says has stopped the building of affordable, family focused homes.
Jenrick says that under the new process, land will be marked as being for growth, renewal, or protection, and that as a result, decisions to go ahead with construction will no longer be made by town hall chiefs.
Land in the first grouping will allow buildings to be developed automatically, the second will use a ‘permission in principle’ system, which, he writes, will “balance speed while ensuring appropriate checks are carried out,” and land under the third category, which include areas of outstanding natural beauty, will be kept it is.
“We are cutting red tape, but not standards,” writes Jenrick before adding that, “it is easy to see why so many people are wary of development, when streets of identikit, ‘anywheresville’ housing has become the norm.”
However, speaking on Times Radio on Sunday, the housing secretary mentioned introducing design standards, which will make sure that new properties retain the design language of buildings in the surrounding area.
“Local building plans were supposed to help councils and their residents deliver more homes in their area, yet they take on average seven years to agree in the form of lengthy and absurdly complex documents and accompanying policies understandable only to the lawyers who feast upon every word,” adds Jenrick.
“We will provide secure housing for the vulnerable, bridge the generational divide and recreate an ownership society, one in which millions more people can open their front door and say with pride, ‘welcome to my home’,” he concludes.
