Planning permission the answer to meet housing demand

Permalink: Planning permission the answer to meet housing demand
by Kay Murchie

A recent claim by The Campaign for Rural England (CPRE) said that most local authorities have sufficient land available to meet housing demand in the UK housing market over the next 10 years. However, it has been said that many key issues have not been taken into account when conducting this research.

The CPRE declared that plans to boost land availability would result in less countryside and rob cities and towns of continued investment in regeneration but the Home Builders Federation (HBF) has stated that increases in supply are essential. A spokesperson for HBF commented that the local authorities’ key issue is not the amount of land available, but the granting of planning permission.

HBF also remarked that the CPRE needs to be aware of the fact that government statistics show that annual housing land supply for development has been declining gradually for more than 10 years and fell by 7% between 1997 and 2003.

In addition, HBF said that what is important is a steady supply of land with planning permission that is practical for building new houses, merely identifying land does not build a single house.