In episode five, Graham Collier, development lawyer at Mills & Reeve, speaks to Paul Smith, managing director at Strategic Land Group.

Speaking from the point of view of a promoter, Paul considers how the broader planning system and processes involved with it (including the adoption of local plans) have reduced the number of housing developments being brought forward – and where the current proposals leave us.

While the plans are a definite positive step forward, there are a number of areas where further information will be necessary in order to understand exactly how they will work, and whether they go far enough, with Paul’s wish list including:

• Detail around transitional arrangements for moving to the new proposed housing target calculations.
• More information on Brownfield Passports – which could help to unlock planning on sites where certain criteria are met.
• Proposals which ensure landowners are sufficiently incentivised when benchmarking land values, so they don’t stop bringing land forward.
• The planning system being fine-tuned and streamlined, removing unnecessary barriers for bringing proposals forward (for example with outline planning), and taking the burden off local authority planning departments.
• Plans for reinvigorating the local plan system, so that they’re adopted more quickly – and pushing on with national development management policies.