Angela Gee’s Post

📰 From March to June this year, a third of all meetings held by Luxembourg ministers and civil servants focused on the housing market and construction sector. A review of Luxembourg's lobby registers showed Housing Minister Claude Meisch held 14 meetings, while Finance Minister Gilles Roth and other officials are also working on initiatives to improve the construction sector. Meanwhile, Health Minister Martine Deprez and Prime Minister Luc Frieden are tackling issues like pension reform and child poverty, with 30,000 children at risk. 🔍 The European Commission has called for more detailed and timely updates to Luxembourg’s lobby registers for better transparency. 💡 More details in this EXCLUSIVE article on luxtimes.lu.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government recently published its proposed amendments to the National Planning Policy Framework, alongside a detailed public consultation, and numerous associated Ministerial statements and letters. Taken together, this marks the new Labour government’s first steps in seeking to carry out “radical and decisive reform to our planning system” which is seen as essential to stimulate economic growth and prosperity. We are exploring across three articles some of the key implications of the proposed reforms for those involved in the commercial, residential and infrastructure sectors. In this, our second article, we explore the meaty area of housing and housing delivery.

As a guest writer for CoStar UK, James Wickham set out what the Labour government should be considering with its proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework. Understandably, housing has taken centre stage in this discussion but making sure commercial development meets the needs of a modern economy is also emphasised. And the question of redeveloping pre-existing buildings sustainably should be answered too. Read James’ article in full here: https://okt.to/5ygWOw

Rutland Local Plan progressing but if the proposed changes to the NPPF go through and the updated Stock based approach tot he Standard Method is adopted then the plan will need to cater for some 264 dwellings a year compared to the present standard method calculation of 123 dwellings a year so a real opportunity to promote some additional sites.

It is interesting to see how different local planning authorities are responding to the proposed changes to the NPPF, particularly the transitional arrangements for the purposes of plan-making. Last week, St Albans (whose adopted plan dates to 1994) announced that they would be accelerating their Local Plan timetable to undertake a Reg. 19 consultation in September, with a view to submitting a plan for examination in December (as opposed to March 2025). Under the changes, their annual local housing need figure would increase by 75% to 1,544dpa so finding additional sites would inevitably cause significant delays. If the plan is found sound, the Council will be expected to commence plan-making in the new plan-making system at the earliest opportunity to address the shortfall in housing need.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government have released its factsheet for planning applications in England from April to June 2024 which worryingly identifies the number of applications received to be amongst the lowest since recordings began in 2006, dropping by 9% since 2023.  The results also tell us that the number of residential developments being granted permission has seen a 5% fall, with commercial permissions also falling by 9% since last year. On a positive note, the percentage of applications being granted consistently remains at 86% and we can see an improvement across all application types being decided within time. With consultation on the 2024 National Planning Policy Framework just coming to a close, we ask the question, are the changes proposed enough to help Labour accelerate application submissions and bolster positive results to achieve its manifesto target of 1.5 million new homes this parliament?  At the moment, the facts aren’t adding up…

Hallam Land welcomed the publication of the draft amendments to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) last week. The new Labour Government has followed up on their manifesto pledge to change the planning system and is clearly determined to deliver significant new housing development over the next five years to meet the needs of the country. With the return of obligatory housing numbers and a clear expectation of what is required from everyone involved in the industry - council officers, politicians, housing promoters and developers, we have high hopes that local plan preparation and the planning process can be accelerated. Hallam are backing the Government's plans and are committed to playing our part in getting Britain building again to provide new high quality schemes, homes, green space and infrastructure across the country.  #Hallamland #Wheregreatplacesstart #Planning 

🏠 Housing and Resource Management Act (RMA) Reform Minister Christopher Bishop announced the Government will establish ambitious new housing growth targets for New Zealand’s cities, while taking steps to make it easier to expand both up and out. The six changes the Government will progress to free up land for development are: 🟣 The establishment of Housing Growth Targets for Tier 1 and 2 councils. 🟣 New rules requiring cities to be allowed to expand outwards at the urban fringe. 🟣 A strengthening of the intensification provisions in the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD). 🟣 New rules requiring councils to enable mixed-use developments in our cities. 🟣 The abolition of minimum floor area and balcony requirements. 🟣 New provisions making the MDRS optional for councils. 👉🏽 Check out the full Press Release at linktr.ee/engagenz

Today the Minister of Housing announced the next tranche of the Government's housing policy reforms. These reforms build on years of work across the urban development system that span many terms of government and Ministers. Six major changes were announced: The establishment of Housing Growth Targets for Tier 1 and 2 councils New rules requiring cities to be allowed to expand outwards at the urban fringe A strengthening of the intensification provisions in the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) New rules requiring councils to enable mixed-use developments in our cities. The abolition of minimum floor area and balcony requirements New provisions making the MDRS optional for councils I know that these changes will be welcomed by the sector as another step in the direction of removing land-use constraints. However, two questions still remain for me: 1. Are we doing enough to bring on infrastructure to match the permissive land-use regulation? 2. Does our construction sector have the capacity, and health, to take advantage of these incoming changes?

On the back of the release of the Housing Commission's report, we are urging the government to make substantial changes to the NPF as committed to in the Planning & Development Bill to ensure it can meet the country's housing needs effectively: https://lnkd.in/eNsWYT8C The Commission's findings have underscored what we've long argued - that the NPF in its current form is not equipped to address the housing crisis. We've outlined some of the critical points to be addressed in the link above.