Planning reforms lead to housing quality fears

The quality of housing in England will suffer as a result of the government’s plans for “radical and necessary reforms” to the planning system.

That’s according to the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), which urged the government to make changes for the better, rather than simple deregulation.

The call came in response to an article in the Daily Telegraph by housing secretary Robert Jenrick, who pledged to cut red tape under a new system that will designate land as belonging to one of three categories: for growth, for renewal or for protection.

But RIBA president, Alan Jones, said: “For too long, England’s housing market has failed to meet public demand while generating enormous returns for shareholders and executives of the large housebuilders.

“We urgently need a broad mix of affordable, age-friendly and sustainable housing – but it looks as though this so called ‘planning revolution’ will deliver the opposite.  

“Only two weeks ago the government saw fit to extend Permitted Development regulations, contrary to its own experts and research, which have made clear the damaging consequences.

The government has missed a huge opportunity to make changes to the planning system for the better, and we call for urgent reconsideration. Deregulation is not the way to bring about new homes.”