Impact of planning conditions on housing delivery

We’ve now published our report, Planning Conditions and Their Impact on Housing Supply: Conversations with Homebuilders, an analysis of the role that planning conditions play in the development process and the UK’s housing crisis.

Planning conditions are requirements associated with the granting of planning permission in England, and must be ‘discharged’ before construction can start. A significant number of conditions often need to be satisfied, stipulating a range of conditions such as specific building materials, site decontamination and archaeological surveys.

Although they are an integral part of the process, they can be a complex issue. Their use can differ considerably from one local authority to the next, as can the speed of approval. While reform of this area of planning is clearly only part of the answer, it could accelerate housing delivery.

The research, carried out by the University of Reading’s Professor Michael Ball, looks into the attitudes of the UK’s largest residential developers towards planning conditions, and considers whether their use is a necessary part of the UK’s planning framework or an unnecessary hurdle which is hindering the nation’s housebuilding efforts.

Andrew Morgan, partner in DAC Beachcroft’s residential development practice, said: “Solving the housing shortage is one of the UK’s most pressing economic challenges. With this report, we hope to encourage a dialogue on planning conditions reform, an under-researched part of the planning process which could provide part of the answer to this complex issue.”

Read the report in full here.