Councils say work with us to deliver more decent homes people can afford and give us the tools we need to do the job 

All councils have their part to play through their local plans to improve housebuilding outcomes, including the essential need to deliver more homes for social rent and homes which are genuinely affordable, the Local Government Association (LGA) says today.    

The LGA supports the Government’s commitment to empower local authorities to deliver more homes, particularly for social rent and other affordable rents, and in its response to the Government’s consultation on the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) sets out a range of pragmatic ideas about how to do so in the spirit of partnership between local and national government.   

The LGA highlights that planning permission is not a barrier to housebuilding, with local authorities approving almost nine in 10 planning applications despite significant resourcing and capacity issues. It also raises concerns that making housebuilding targets mandatory, particularly if not backed by the delivery of necessary infrastructure, centralises policy and therefore weakens local decision-making powers and flexibilities over how to develop an area over time to meet both local and national priorities.     

The LGA also warns that some of the proposals in the Government’s consultation, including a new methodology to determine mandatory housebuilding targets, could lead to unintended consequences such as speculative unplanned development, without the necessary infrastructure to meet the needs of communities.  

The LGA acknowledges the vital role that local authorities have to play in tackling the housing crisis, and argues that councils and communities know their areas best and are well placed to make judgement decisions on how to manage competing demands for uses in their local areas through the local plan-led system, so national planning policy should remain suitably flexible to allow this. Planning is about creating communities linked with the right economic activity and public services, whilst conserving and enhancing the natural and local environment. New homes are a necessary but not sufficient requirement to create thriving, attractive and desirable communities in which to live. They also need to be accompanied by appropriate levels of local and national infrastructure.   

In its NPPF consultation response submission, the LGA also called on the Government to urgently revoke the unfettered permitted development rights which permit the creation of new homes without contributions towards affordable housing and local infrastructure and controls to ensure new homes are of a decent standard.    

Allowing councils to set their own planning application fees would help to address growing and real concerns that planning departments are facing regarding resourcing and capacity constraints. The flexibility to set planning fees, alongside other measures such as increasing the number of council planners, will slowly help to address the national operating shortfall in planning departments and provide better value for money from councils for the taxpayer.    

The LGA also argues that empowering local authorities to deliver more homes for social rent must be backed by practical measures outside the realms of just planning policy. Its Autumn Budget submission sets out the powers and flexibilities needed by councils to build the affordable and social homes their communities need.    

With more than a million additional homes earmarked for development by councils in Local Plans yet to be brought forward by developers, councils need to be given greater powers to ensure these sites are brought forward and there is prompt and meaningful build out of sites which have been granted planning permission.    

Cllr Adam Hug, Housing spokesperson for the LGA said:    

“Our message to Government is simple: work with us and give us the tools to build the homes our country needs. There is a strong appetite across local government to work constructively to improve coverage of local plans and encourage housebuilding, including the vital need to deliver more homes for social rent and homes which are genuinely affordable.   

“However, councils and local communities know their local areas best, and need to be full partners in tackling the housing crisis together, with new development supported by the infrastructure needed to make communities thrive and proper consultation and engagement that can help ensure local people are able to benefit.   

“Councils need the right powers, skills, resources and funding to act and want to work with government and the development and housebuilding industry.”    

Notes to editors   
   
LGA submission to MHCLG’s consultation on Proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework 

It calls for government to:    

• The roll out of five-year local housing deals by 2025 to all areas of the country that want them – combining funding from multiple national housing programmes into a single pot. This will provide certainty and efficiencies and could support delivery of an additional 200,000 social homes in a 30-year period.    
• Giving councils the powers and flexibilities to use the Right to Buy scheme and receipts in their local area will help protect existing valuable social stock and allow councils to invest in the direct delivery of new stock or acquisitions.    
• The Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) grant levels per unit must be reviewed and increased to deliver more new affordable homes and ensure inflationary pressures do not jeopardise continued delivery.    
• Housing Revenue Accounts must be strengthened via a long-term rent settlement of at least 10 years alongside restoration of lost revenue due to rent cap/cuts, to give councils certainty on rental income and support long-term business planning.    
• Further investment should be made in the Brownfield Land Release Fund and One Public Estate programmes, with the opportunity for speedy release of public land and housebuilding on smaller council, health and blue light sites.    
• Further opportunities should be brought forward to utilise compulsory purchase powers (CPOs) to facilitate land assembly and expedite the delivery of approved regeneration schemes, as well as providing the necessary resources to facilitate a higher pace and volume of CPOs.    
• Increased flexibility for local authorities in the use of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding to enable it to be invested directly in the delivery of affordable housing (rather than only be applicable to enabling works as at present).  

The LGA’s Autumn Budget submission calls on the Government to take immediate steps to stabilise council finances and protect vital local services. The LGA has warned government against further “disastrous” cuts to local government funding with councils already facing a funding gap of more than £2 billion next year (2025/26).