Housing secretary Michael Gove has confirmed that he is watering down housing delivery targets for local councils but revealed plans to introduce “sharper accountability” in the form of league tables for planning authorities.

Announcing the publication of the much-delayed National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) in central London yesterday, the secretary of state for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities also vowed to take action against councils without local plans.

He also confirmed that local housing targets were now officially “advisory”, but insisted that the government will meet the manifesto pledge of increasing housebuilding to 300,000 homes a year by the middle of the decade, but only “once we get back to a normal level of interest and mortgage rates”.

He added: “It has always been the case that [housing targets] were supposed to be advisory for local authorities. But that principle has more often been honoured in the breach than in the observance.

“Local authorities must provide rigorous evidence justifying their departure from assessed housing needs. They must do everything to identify other lands suitable for development.

“While the planning inspectorate will respect well-made cases, it will not accept undershooting that is not firmly rooted in environmental or other safeguards. This is about sensitive adjustment in housing targets, not their abandonment.”

The housing secretary also revealed plans to publish league tables revealing the real performance of local planning authorities. The tables will show the speed of response, the level of approvals and delivery against targets.

Industry response:

Ian Fletcher, policy director of the British Property Federation, said: “By changing how local authorities should assess housing need, the government is watering down its own national targets and creating more obstacles and delays to housing delivery. What is often overlooked is that if less land is allocated for housing, less land is likely also to be allocated for the commercial developments we need to create jobs and drive the economy. These changes could have far-reaching consequences and undermine the government’s growth agenda,” he said.

“Several aspects of the planning system are presently under consultation, leading some local authorities to delay publication of local plans, which in turn is deterring investment. We would like to see all local authorities have a local plan in place but government needs to use the carrot as well as the stick, providing more resources for planning departments and a clear policy framework to shape how plans are developed.

“The review into statutory consultees is welcome and shows that government does recognise the need to speed up the process. There is a massive opportunity to unlock more private capital to revitalise towns and cities if government takes decisive action to modernise the planning system as well as commit the funding that planning departments need after a decade of cuts.”

Cllr Darren Rodwell, housing spokesperson for the Local Government Association, commented:  ”People want their local area to have high-quality affordable homes built in the right places, supported by the right infrastructure, and councils stand ready to help government tackle local housing challenges. This is best achieved through a local planning system with public participation at its heart. So we are pleased government has confirmed that housing targets will become an advisory starting point which will take into account local circumstances.

“In order to help increase the speed of local plan-making and housing delivery, we urge the Government to bring forward consultations on a revised NPPF and National Development Management Policies which will form the backbone of a new style of plan-making due in Autumn 2024.”

Neil Jefferson, managing director of the Home Builders Federation, remarked: “The removal of housing targets for local authorities, one of the key principles of the planning system, will be extremely damaging for the delivery of new homes. Already we are seeing house building and planning permission levels tumble as a direct result of the government’s approach and further falls are now inevitable.

“While the announcement today does include some modest improvements to the planning process, most are simply threats that will not make a difference in the short term. Amidst a deepening housing crisis, putting party politics and electioneering above the interests of those in need of a decent home will have devastating long-term consequences for the economy and society.”

Jack Pringle, chair of board at the Royal Institute of British Architects, said: ”Today’s focus on ensuring that we build more new homes, alongside the infrastructure needed to sustain our communities, is to be applauded. New measures to tackle delays in the planning process and ensure that local authorities have clear plans in place are long overdue. The Secretary of State has recognised the important role of architects and planners, but this must be backed with further resource.

”Delivering high-quality, sustainable and genuinely affordable new homes will require more skille expertise in overstretched local planning departments. As was acknowledged, to do this we must ensure fees paid for planning applications are invested back into the system.”

Lawrence Turner, director of Boyer, commented: ”The changes introduced by the new NPPF have significant implications for LPAs in terms of delivering sustainable development, meeting local housing needs, and addressing the housing crisis. The rebranding of the standard method for meeting housing needs as “advisory” and the changes in the approach to strategic coordination and green belt boundaries make it more difficult for LPAs to plan for sustainable development and meet local housing needs.

”Additionally, the changes in the five-year housing requirements present a significant challenge for LPAs, especially considering the resource constraints that many of them face. These changes are likely to have a profound impact on housing delivery and may further exacerbate the housing crisis.

Andy Moffat, head of planning at Savills in Cambridge, said: “The issues surrounding housing affordability in Cambridge are well documented and the potential to create connected, sustainable, green communities is an important priority. The ongoing success of Cambridge relies on its ability to attract and retain young people to live and work in the city – and we look forward to seeing further details of how the new development corporation will co-ordinate growth.

“Throughout his speech the Secretary of State also emphasised the need to deliver infrastructure alongside new housing and employment growth. In particular he noted the ongoing concerns regarding the availability of water to serve the level of growth already planned, let alone any additional growth, but is satisfied that a solution will be forthcoming.

“More broadly, Mr Gove’s focus is clearly on Local Authorities not only preparing and adopting up-to-date Local Plans, but also delivering the strategies they contain. All of this means that there will likely be an increased focus on the proposals contained in the adopted Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire Local Plans, which are now over five years old.”

Mark Buddle, head of residential development at Bidwells, said: ”The housing secretary’s non-announcement today in regard to an already unfit for purpose planning system demonstrates a shocking indifference towards the UK’s housing emergency. With 1 in 18 people in this country without a home, the government needs to be doing everything it can to expedite housing delivery.

”This is a massive lost opportunity to provide a fix to the housing crisis. Unfortunately, effective solutions seem well out of reach as long as our eternally flip-flopping housing secretary, and the government that supports him, remain beholden to the all too fickle nature of political power and noisy, parochial interest groups.”

Andrew Shephard, managing director at modular housebuilder TopHat, added: “It’s welcome that as part of his planning and housing speech today Gove has announced a presumption in favour of sustainable development – a policy that mirrors our own calls to ministers as one of the initiatives needed to turbo charge the innovative volumetric modular housing sector. While the devil will be in the detail, the approach could act as a catalyst for increasing the planning permission granted to deliver our beautiful, green, volumetric modular homes.”

Michael Gove unveils long awaited NPPF, pledging to boost housebuilding