New report says government must intervene on housing crisis

The government is being urged to consult on the feasibility of bringing housing within the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) regime according to a new report released today.

The report ‘Housing – Nationally Significant Infrastructure’ was commissioned by law firm Bond Dickinson and planning consultants Quod and states there is a “clear imperative for central government to show strong political leadership in driving large-scale housing development in the national public interest”.

The report is based on the views of a wide range of respected housing and planning experts from the public and private sector. It states that while there is strong support for creating new housing developments to address the housing shortage crisis, they are unlikely to happen without government intervention in the shape of policy and legislation to overcome the current obstacles to bringing forward large scale housing and mixed use projects within the current planning system.

At least 240,000 new homes are needed each year to address the housing crisis. Yet just 117,720 homes were completed in 2014 and the last six years have seen the lowest housebuilding since the Second World War.

According to recent research, only a quarter of local planning authorities have a local plan, which has been adopted as sound since the publication of the Government’s National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) in 2012. 46% have no plan or are still working to a pre-NPPF plan, while 33% of current plan examinations have been suspended due to housing issues.

Kevin Gibbs, Partner at Bond Dickinson, feels this national crisis needs a ‘national solution’. He said: “The principles of localism are laudable but the current planning system simply doesn’t ensure that local authorities will deliver housing on the scale we need.

“There is a clear imperative for central government to lift restrictions on housing delivery and show strong political leadership in driving large-scale housing development in the national public interest.”

The Planning Act 2008 created a new system for nationally significant infrastructure projects such as transport, wastewater, electricity lines, wind farms, and pipelines to gain consent by allowing promoters to apply directly to the Planning Inspectorate for a Development Consent Order.

The application is then consulted on and then independently investigated within a fixed timetable before the inspectors make a recommendation to the Secretary of State.

Such has been the scheme’s success, with over 40 such projects having been consented so far, the government extended it in 2014 to include business and commercial development.

Whilst recognising that any proposal to accelerate new schemes can be controversial, the report suggests that the NSIP is one of the very few realistic options available that can provide the private sector with the ability to promote development on a large enough scale and comes with a proven track record of fairness, efficiency and success.

Kevin Gibbs said: “There is no technical or legislative barrier to including housing within the NSIP regime, though there is debate about whether its inclusion would need a National Policy Statement to establish robust criteria of need, or whether the already established NPPF would be enough.

“There are no perfect solutions to delivering large scale housing development, but the NSIP regime looks to be an attractive option, and we urge the government to consult on its usage as a matter of urgency.”

The report says the NSIP regime can bring specific advantages that can tackle barriers preventing large-scale housing developments being brought forward. These include creating fixed timescales for decision-making, a single consenting process that includes compulsory purchase, and the confidence provided by the upfront establishment of need.

The inclusion of compulsory acquisition within the NSIP regime was seen as a major advantage, alongside the process and compulsory acquisition being funded by the private sector, therefore taking pressure off local authority budgets.

By enabling successful private sector applicants to acquire land in the same way as the public sector means that the issue of major developments being ransomed by landowners could be avoided.  The critical constraint of land ownership would be negated and the value generated could instead be invested in supporting infrastructure and affordable housing.

Currently, housing is excluded form the NSIP regime, however the July 2015 Budget included proposals to allow developments with an element of housing to be included, but did not go as far as to include housing led schemes.

John Rhodes, Director at Quod, commented: “Remedying the chronic under-provision of housing should be an economic and a social priority. At present, however, developers are denied access to the national infrastructure planning process for housing proposals and thereby denied the use of the single most effective regime for delivering development.

“With appropriate safeguards in place, the use of the NSIP regime would transform the ability of the private sector to make a meaningful contribution to the national housing crisis.

“The NSIP regime has proved effective in enabling nationally important infrastructure projects to be brought forward efficiently and fairly and it has been extended to include business and commercial development.  There is no logical reason to why it should not be applied to assist the country’s greatest development need: the need for housing.”

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