Planning approvals for new homes in England drop to 13-year low
https://www.ft.com/content/41e2122c-3612-4362-8071-c0c59a4f59db
Posted by 1-randomonium
Planning approvals for new homes in England drop to 13-year low
https://www.ft.com/content/41e2122c-3612-4362-8071-c0c59a4f59db
Posted by 1-randomonium
18 Comments
(Article)
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The number of new homes given planning approval in England in the first three months of this year was the lowest figure for 13 years, according to new research which underlines the challenges facing Sir Keir Starmer’s government as it seeks to boost housebuilding.
Only 39,170 new homes received approval in the first quarter of 2025 in England, a drop of 55 per cent on the previous three months and 32 per cent lower than the same period of last year, according to new figures produced for the Home Builders Federation.
The HBF data tends to prefigure the official figures, due to be published later in the year.
Neil Jefferson, chief executive of the HBF, said the figures were “disastrous” for both the industry and the government’s ambition of increasing new housing supply.
“With current supply flatlining and permissions for homes to be built over the next few years plummeting, unless urgent interventions are made there seems little chance of us building the homes we know are desperately needed,” he said.
Jefferson added that ministers must address the lack of affordable mortgage lending and the absence “for the first time in decades of any government support scheme for first time buyers”.
Starmer has made the building of 1.5mn new homes in England during this five-year parliament one of his key pledges — equivalent to 300,000 new homes a year.
But the HBF data suggests that the rolling annual figure for housing units securing detailed planning approval was 225,067 in the year to the end of March, a 7 per cent fall on the previous 12-month period.
That is the lowest annual figure since 2012 and is well below a high of 335,802 hit in early 2021.
However Labour has expressed hopes that it can boost development through various reforms to the planning system.
Last year the government rewrote the “national planning policy framework” to reimpose housing targets on councils and is currently pushing a planning and infrastructure bill through parliament.
The HBF’s Jefferson called on the government to take action to stimulate more demand for new housing, including bringing back equity loans or shared equity mortgage support and easing requirements for property developers to build public infrastructure such as the schools, GP surgeries and roads needed for their projects.
He also warned that housebuilders were struggling under various taxes and levies introduced in recent years including a residential property developers tax, nutrient neutrality charges and the “future homes standard” which will force builders to add solar panels.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the industry body, said resource constraints in local planning authorities and capacity challenges for utility providers “were creating friction in the system”.
“The key ingredient for the industry is clarity,” said Justin Young, chief executive of RICS. “Reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework are still bedding into the sector, and uncertainty is part of the reason for the application slowdown.”
The British Property Federation, which has some members in the residential housing sector, said “significant” delays at the Building Safety Regulator due to lack of staff were causing blockages.
“These figures are not a surprise to us,” said Rachel Kelly, policy director with the BPF. “Applications which should take 8 to 12 weeks are taking 24 weeks, and even up to a year, to be finalised. Delays at the regulator are the biggest barrier at the moment.”
Matthew Spry, senior director at planning and development consultancy Lichfields, said the industry had welcomed the government’s planning reforms.
“But to move the dial on delivery, those applications require expeditious determination by local planning authorities: the government will need to rapidly implement the current planning and infrastructure bill.”
A ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “We know that 1.5mn homes is a stretching target, but we are taking decisive action to speed up every stage of the planning process and deliver the homes and infrastructure we need through our plan for change.”
thank goodness there isn’t a huge need for housing stock then………oh……wait……🤬
It’s almost like charging ridiculous levels of stamp duty is choking the housing market.
Seems a bit weird when there’s been a ton of planning applications just where I live for huge new housing estates.
I realise my view is completely anecdotal but I don’t remember a time where more housing estates are being built, having said that in the area of the midlands I live in almost all the houses are £400,000 plus which is ridiculous when you look at the previous owned market
I guess the question should be asked if planning applications have gone down as well?
“These figures are not a surprise to us,” said Rachel Kelly, policy director with the BPF. “Applications which should take 8 to 12 weeks are taking 24 weeks, and even up to a year, to be finalised. Delays at the regulator are the biggest barrier at the moment.”
Two sides to new housing estates.
1) Existing residents don’t want more houses by them, especially if they’re taking up green spaces. It’s understandable but their house once took up green space one day.
2) The companies who build these housing estates do not give a FUCK about anyone. They want to build houses as quick as possible and they will disrupt everyone in their path including people living there.
Supply and demand. Prices are almost unaffordable .traditional areas of cheaper stocks have been bought by speculative buyers . Areas of growth for jobs are concentrated where demand is high and prices are still rising. Soon, this will become unaffordable, too . Some of the extra demand on planning is the adaptation of existing stock where extra regulation for safety slows the process . Austerity gutted most of the departments involved, and cost cutting continues to impact the process. It’s a pie of many unsavoury pieces of gristle that we are expected to swallow
Main gripe with planning apps in my area is the absolute lack of infrastructure. Roads are busy enough, schools and NHS dentists are stacked but they just want to pile on more and more.
Supporting infrastructure needs to be law-bound because it seems developers worm their way out of it…
The only people choking the housing market are the housebuilders.
See graph on: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15810966
Private housebuilders have never picked up the new builds lost when councils stopped building. They have no incentive to do so. They would rather complete fewer units at higher margins than many units at low margins.
The only way to build more houses is to get councils building again, which (in addition to removing right to buy, and reforms to planning to prevent a small number of nimbys delaying or blocking developments) I believe means you need a cash injection to bootstrap the lost expertise and funding. Councils used to build using the revenue from their existing housing stocks, but these are gone now, replaced by sending money to private landlords to house social tenants, which generates no future income.
And that’s not even considering the additional benefits in terms of directed infrastructure (that contractors won’t be looking to weasel out of), downward pressure on everyones rents, or reduced burdens on other areas of council funding that council housebuilding would enable.
>Jefferson added that ministers must address the lack of affordable mortgage lending and the absence “for the first time in decades of any government support scheme for first time buyers”
And there you have the demand side problem. Houses are unaffordable for too many people, and the housing market can only function with government subsidy. Increasing supply will not work if there is a lack of demand.
Been working as a Town Planner for 11 years, though admittedly in the environmental and large infrastructure/renewable energy field. However, in my many conversations with other Town Planners this is a multi-faceted problem. Local Authorities just cannot get the staff as the job is ballbusting, even with generally now better pay and pension than most private positions (until you rise high within a private company). Heck, in terms of the May RTPI publication, even the private sector is struggling to recruit and I can say from personal experience at my company (for whatever such a small sample size is worth), that we are just continuing to trade people around several companies. Gain one from WSP, to lose one to Arup to gain one from AECOM etc. There are just not many people going into the field of Town Planning combined with rising demand.
I would also say that housebuilders are super playing the system and having worked on Local Development Plan policies (in partnership with Local Authorities), housebuilders try to denude and shirk their responsibilities at every turn. Even if they agree to do X, they will often submit a variation application later to water down their requirements. This means that there is even more for the Council to have to review whilst also makes house building take longer as developers just play the game. To be honest, I don’t think the system in England and Wales is that bad if engaged with in good faith, but house builders can happily play the game as long as they want, combined with the staffing issues at many Local Authorities.
Whilst NIMBYs are an issue (especially for what is fundamentally needed to address housing in the country – that being new garden villages/settlements/large scale new housing development in new areas and NIMBYs always come out the woodwork on any infrastructure or industrial development) the National Planning Policy Framework, planning guidance and housing requirement targets mean NIMBY’s powers are curtailed considerably on the matter of housing, as housing now has total and utter priority. I do agree that the levels of consultation required could be argued to slow the process, but then that is not a planning issue but a head government issue in terms of them wanting everyone to be able to have their say and slow everything down many times.
*planning applications are at a record low as developers sit on piles and piles of land
Is it me or are the housebuilders the ultimate arseholes? Not content with being given the green light by the government to more or less build where they like, they now want the taxpayer to subsidise their profits and pay for communal facilities. Given the size of their profits they should be compelled via levies, fines or taxes to provide what they agreed to. If the government wants voters to agree to having green fields built over there has to be real and visible quid pro quos. It may not be representative but I know of big developments without shops or medical facilities because the builders refused to build them due to an alleged lack of profitability.
Saying PP numbers are falling is meaningless without context. What about all the sites with PP which are not being built? Are the prices being asked to high? Is the mix of housing in line with what is needed in each area? I don’t doubt getting PP is hard work and so it should be if irreversible change is being made to the environment, but both builders and government might do better if they didn’t describe anyone showing concern or criticism as “blockers”. Better a bit of delay than a total screw up.
Planning departments across the country are running on fumes after 14 years of Tory austerity. A skeleton staff of under experienced and overwhelmed planning officers cannot cope. Labour need to end austerity not continue it.
I think the fundemental premise of planning needs to change, not just a tweaking to laws. We need to move from allowing houses to built to forcing them to.
How will all our MPs including labour collect their fat landlord checks if they stop lying and actually build new homes?
It might be down to a lack of postage stamp sized plots with room to build to build 20 4 bedroom detached house with less space between them the width of my terraced house alleyway (1m) for those interested or the fact that the surrounding infrastructure is not improved to accommodate