A BBC Panorama programme says the government will soon force local councils to adapt a local plan within a maximum of 30 months – instead of the average seven years it currently takes.
In a programme looking at the difficulties in meeting its own 1.5m new homes target,Housing Secretary Steve Reed says he will soon force councils that are dragging their feet to adopt a plan, which would usually assist in speeding up the planning consent for a proposed development.
Reed insists on the show that government reforms would help developers build more homes, including mandating new housebuilding targets for councils and “more powers” for him to call in – or review – “unreasonably” rejected housing development schemes.
He adds that his job should be “on the line” if the government fails to meet the 1.5m target.
However, experts outside of government say the target looks increasingly unlikely to be met.
Prof Paul Cheshire, who has advised previous governments on planning policy, said there was “absolutely no way” it would succeed. Meanwhile, Neil Jefferson of the Home Builders Federation, which represents private housebuilding companies, warned the government’s target was “looking increasingly distant”.
Meanwhile the consultancy Glenigan – regarded as a leading construction analyst – has released a quarterly update on the sector in the UK, painting a picture of industry slowdown as investor confidence fails to return to the private market and many public projects face significant delays.
It was a case of across-the-board decline with project starts, main contract awards and detail planning approvals all down compared to both the preceding three months, and the same period last year.
Project starts fell by 15% in the three months to the end of September, against the previous quarter and plummeted to just 40% of 2024 levels. Likewise, the value of planning approvals was slashed by approximately fifth (-21%) during Q.3 and when measured against the previous year (-18%).
Yuliana Ivanykovych, senior economist at Glenigan says, “The situation seems to be getting worse as the year progresses and, at this rate something truly transformative will need to happen to kick-start activity. Activity is depressed across both underlying and major projects, a result of low business confidence and the slow progress of government funded projects. Couple that with the industry’s long-term labour market challenges, wafer-thin margins and growing concerns over rising costs and you have a perfect storm, which the industry will have to try and weather in the months to come.”
The residential sector is in decline, with that positive growth spurt seen over the Spring/Summer now seeming a distant memory. Whilst project starts only fell by 7% year-on-year, main contract awards tumbled by 47% and planning approvals by 39% when measured against 2024 figures.
Private housing experienced a particularly poor period whilst social housing has been left with a significantly weakened pipeline. Even though there was strong growth in major project starts within this vertical, compared to both last year and the previous quarter, it was not quite enough to pull it up into positive figures.
Regionally, performance was generally weak, with most posting lower project starts compared to Q.2 and the previous year. However, London and the South East both registered small project start increases, up 8% and 2% respectively in 2024. The latter also experienced an uptick in planning approvals, growing 10% year-on-year, with the East of England (+28%) and South West (+11%) posting increases on a year ago.
