Government's ‘Build, Baby, Build’ Call to Arms

Reed has said that he will accelerate the planning process and look at what barrierts the Government can get out of the way.  As an example, Reed has suggesed that the Government is looking at 'brownfield passports' to allow developers to start building on brownfield sites more quickly.

 

As part of the Government’s Plan for Change, the housing secretary has committed to:

 

• Reforming planning legislation via the upcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill, to help unlock development barriers and speed delivery;
• Restoring mandatory housing targets for local authorities to reverse declines in housing supply; and
• Supporting industry with investment through schemes like the New Homes Accelerator, funding for councils to unlock brownfield land, and the Social and Affordable Homes Programme.

 

What This Means for DHA Planning

 

As a practice involved in planning strategy, transport, design, and project delivery, DHA Planning sees this initiative as a significant opportunity, as well as a challenge.

 

• Opportunity: The reforms and investment signal that there may be fewer regulatory delays, more supportive policy frameworks, and better tools for local authorities to facilitate development. This could help schemes of all scales move forward more swiftly.

 

• Challenge: Delivering on 1.5 million homes means working harder than ever to ensure proposals are high quality, sensitive to environmental and local landscape concerns, and properly aligned with infrastructure, transport, and community need.

 

DHA Planning’s Commitment

 

At DHA Planning, we are ready to engage fully with this renewed policy drive. Key aspects of our approach will include:

 

• Advising clients early on to align their schemes with policy reform and local authority expectations;
• Bringing best practice in sustainability, accessibility, and design to ensure proposals are robust, defensible, and beneficial to communities; and
• Working collaboratively across disciplines (planning, transport, ecology, design etc.) to help reduce delays and strengthen applications.

 

Further Advice

 

If you are a landowner, developer, local authority or community group and would like to understand how these government changes might affect your next development, DHA Planning would be happy to help.