The government’s long-awaited planning bill announced in the Queen’s Speech looks set to be the biggest overhaul to building rules in a generation as it bids to ease controls in England and boost housebuilding.

It plans a new traffic light system, with the UK divided up by local councils into areas designated for growth, protection, or renewal.

In growth areas, current planning restrictions will be largely swept away to speed construction. It takes an average of five years for a typical housing development to be passed fit for development.

The government wants the country to build 300,000 new homes a year – more than the 192,725 homes it built last year.

In August, housing secretary Robert Jenrick said such reforms would mean that new homes, hospitals, schools, shops and offices will get automatic permission for firms to start building.

The government said the current system is “complicated, favours larger developers and often means that much needed new homes are delayed.”

Other elements in the bill would see a move from a document-based planning system to a digital one, in a bid to boost local consultation. Currently, only 3% of local people respond to planning applications, according to the government.

Jenrick has also said he wants small and medium-sized firms to build a “substantial” quantity of the new homes the country needs, which he said will help local areas grow.

Currently, smaller firms build just 12% of UK homes.

The bill also proposes a new infrastructure levy to replace the more complex Section 106 system. However, details on how the levy would work are yet to be outlined.

Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association executive director Kate Davies says: “Back in 2007 Gordon Brown promised a 20% increase in the house-building programme – and that his government would deliver 3 million more houses by 2020.

“In 2015 David Cameron promised a more modest 200,000 starter homes – but while sites were acquired and funds spent, not one single starter home was ever actually built.

“In 2017 Teresa May’s new Government promised to fix our broken housing market – acknowledging that we needed between 225,000 and 275,000 new homes every year ‘to keep up with population growth and start to tackle years of under-supply.’

“The Conservative Party manifesto of 2019 promised to build ‘at least 1m new homes over the next Parliament.’

“Without wishing to appear unduly curmudgeonly, I think most commentators could be forgiven for reacting to the latest Government announcement by saying ‘we’ve heard it all before’.

“The announcement of a new planning bill aimed at helping to better designate land for development should be a positive step in the right direction towards building more homes in the UK – but we’ve had so many steps and promises in the past – all of which have led to – relatively little.

“Successive governments have struggled to hit their building targets and recent research from Shelter suggests we may not do so until 2032. That is before we factor in the delays caused by Covid-19.

“Having said that, the coronavirus crisis has reset so much about our everyday lives, and the Government has made clear its desire to ‘build back better’.

“Implementing an effective housing strategy could play a big part in doing just that. There is a great opportunity for Boris Johnson’s government to be the first in nearly 20 years to make a real difference and deliver on its promises to address the current issues facing the housing market.

“The big challenge will lie in whether it can take a sufficiently long-term strategic view of what needs to be done, and set in motion projects that will not be fully delivered until after the life of this Parliament and these politicians.”

Propertymark chief policy advisor Mark Hayward adds: “A greater supply of homes will serve to correct the imbalance between supply and demand which has been intensified by the stamp duty holiday.

“The government has made a number of announcements in the past on simplifying the planning process, however, this will only work if it really reflects local needs and demands.

“We hope the Planning Bill outlined today encourages the development of housing in more affordable areas, as at the moment, most of the development taking place is in areas that are unaffordable to first-time and lower income buyers.”

The planning bill is expected to be brought before Parliament after the summer recess.

As well as confirmation that the government will seek to overhaul the planning system this year, other bills in the 30 that were announced during the speech focussed on housing.

These include a Building Safety Bill, “To ensure that the tragedies of the past are never repeated”, which will appoint a building safety regulator and initiate financing for cladding replacement and a Leasehold Reform Bill, which will look to ban ground rent for leasehold flat owners.

The government will also court ideas to ‘Enhance the rights of those who rent’ through the issuing of a white paper rather than a bill.