Now is not the time to try and make fudge, Councillor…
There has been a collective sharp intake of breath across many, many councils where they had been dragging their heels over Local Plan making… the previous government’s lily-livered approach to Local Plan making and the (frankly idiotic) abolition of housing targets has lulled a number of councils into a position of complacency and possibly, the illusion that if they held out for long enough, the government will realise just how “special” they are and they would get a magic waiver to say, they don’t have to build any more homes.
So, it was with a shock that the new NPPF landed with a thud on their desks accompanied by a missive from our Secretary of State that made it very clear those plans that had reached Regulation 19 publication stage but had not yet been submitted for examination one month after the revised framework was published, with a gap of no more than 200 homes per annum between the revised local housing need figure and its proposed housing requirement, should progress to examination under the version of the NPPF the authority has used when preparing the plan thus far.
However, the arrangements added that those with a more significant gap of over 200 homes per annum (the majority) between the two figures would need to revise their plan in line with the revised NPPF, which includes a revised standard method that says that England needs 370,000 rather than 300,000 homes a year before submitting the plan for examination no more than 18 months after the publication of the revised NPPF.
No more fudging it, no more dilly-dallying, no more wringing of hands, no more trying to cook up flimsy excuses about why councils can’t make a Local Plan with the required number of homes to meet the housing targets (honestly, I have seen books of excuses about why they can’t do Local Plans longer than the Local Plan itself!)
So, councillors, get out your sharpest quills, call for your writing mittens and talk to the house builders and commercial developers and the renewable energy providers. We are here to help you! We want to work with you and if you work with us, you can make those Local Plans that deliver the numbers and pass an examination in the right time scale.
Until next week!
Henry