Planning framework fails to tackle barriers for new homes

Responding to the announcement, Magnus Gallie, senior planner for Friends of the Earth, said:

“The government needs to focus on getting homes built on sites that already have permission, rather than releasing greenbelt land to hit housing numbers.

“The problem is not that the planning system is blocking homes – last year over 75% of housing applications were approved. The real issue is that private developers alone cannot deliver this scale of housebuilding. Continually tinkering with national policy while under-resourced councils are pushed to approve applications will not fix stalled delivery.

“Steps to improve housing resilience to climate change and stop development from contributing to the extraction of more fossil fuels are welcome. But the government needs to go further; especially in supporting the delivery of more social and affordable homes. 

"Good planning is so much more than hitting targets – it’s about creating thriving communities with access to jobs, schools, healthcare and green space, in homes that are warm and genuinely affordable. Constantly moving the goalposts to favour housebuilders risks unbalancing the social, environmental and economic foundations of well-planned communities.”

Friends of the Earth warns the government’s drive to embed higher housing targets into faster, streamlined local plans risks prioritising speed and volume over quality homes with strong community support and environmental protections.

The campaigners say other recent and forthcoming reforms – including the Planning and Infrastructure Bill – threaten to weaken safeguards for some of the UK’s most protected nature sites in pursuit of short-term development.

ENDS

For more information, or to request an interview or photographs, please contact the Friends of the Earth press office on 020 7566 1649 or email [email protected]