The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities think so, launching their much anticipated consultation in December.
With the relaxation of the absolute requirement for new Local Plans to meet an area’s objectively assessed needs and the proposed tightening of the approach to Green Belt reviews, we wonder if the target of faster house building (300,000 a year by the mid-2020s) is achievable. The target was set out in the 2019 Conservative manifesto and re-committed to in the Levelling-up Bill, but with just 242,700 net additional dwellings built in 2019-20, there is still some acceleration needed. The Levelling-up Bill outlines that growth will be fuelled by providing certainty through incentivising the adoption of up-to-date Local Plans and by giving increased weight given to these plans. This begs the question as to whether we think these ‘reforms’ (proposed NPPF changes) will move us closer to new Local Plans or create a further stalling or abandonment of currently emerging Local Plans??
The amendments also generate the usual new terms which will no doubt require testing in the courts before there is any agreed definition or approach. This includes what building at densities “significantly out of character” with the existing area means in practice and how high this threshold test will be before relaxing the requirement to meet objectively assessed needs. We also wonder whether anyone can truly define what a “beautiful” building is? I know we would have differing opinions on this in our office alone!
More to come, we’re certain.
In the meantime, if you’re wondering why mansard roofs were so critical that they need a special mention – closer inspection reveals this will help LPAs in ‘embracing gentle density’. Time will tell whether such an explicit measure was required to help increase densification.
