Government takes action on councils failing to plan for new homes in England

The Government is taking action against 11 councils in England who are failing to plan sufficiently for new homes and have not done so for years. Housing Secretary Sajid Javid has written to them to inform them of decisions on intervention following continued failure to produce a local plan which is necessary to help them meet new housing needs. In November 2017, the Government confirmed it would commence the consideration of intervention in 15 local authorities where there has been a failure to produce a local plan. The councils had until 31 January 2018 to explain why they hadn’t yet published a plan, providing any exceptional circumstances for why the Government shouldn’t intervene. Four have since published their plans but the remaining 11 have not. As a result the Government’s Chief Planner and a team of experts will be sent in to assess if they need to take over the process of producing the local plan in Castle Point, Thanet, and Wirral councils. In Northumberland the Government has instructed the council to produce their plan earlier and to make the timetable clearer while in in Basildon, Bolsover, Brentwood, Calderdale, Eastleigh, Mansfield, St Albans, the situation is being monitored after the councils committed to publishing draft plans before the end of September 2018. However, in the case of these councils, the Government has made clear it will monitor their progress and that any further significant delay to meet this timescale will lead to the case for intervention being reconsidered. Javid has written to them to make it clear that should there be any further significant delays to their timetable to submit the plan, the Government will not hesitate to act. ‘Whilst most councils rightly recognise their responsibilities and most have worked hard to meet the housing challenge, some have failed. I expect those authorities we identified in November to continue to make progress,’ said Javid. ‘I’m also stepping it up with three councils in particular, sending in a team of experts to make a direct assessment, ensuring they plan properly for the future or we’ll have to do it for them,’ he pointed out. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has also commenced preparations to take over plan production so that work can begin as soon as possible, subject to decisions taken after the Chief Planner and his experts report back. ‘A procurement process is currently underway to secure planning consultants and specialists who will swiftly undertake the work on plan production should these councils not comply in the time required, Javid explained. ‘The department will also make contact with county councils and combined authorities in the areas concerned about the possibility of inviting those authorities to write plans,’ he added.