Ministers have been given extra powers to stop councils from refusing planning permission for key housebuilding and other major projects as the government works to cut construction red tape.
From this week, ministers will be able to issue “reserved directions” to stop councils from refusing planning permission when considering the use of “convening” powers, the housing department said.
Ministers’ hold on power enables them to intervene in local decision-making and take over the decision-making process.
The department added: “Under existing rules, they [ministers] These reservations can only be issued if the Council is prepared to approve the application. This will ensure ministers can use their convening powers correctly where necessary to boost economic growth and build more homes. ”
The move comes in support of the government’s flagship planning and infrastructure bill, which aims to remove a range of restrictions as Labor aims to build 1.5 million new homes before the next election.
The bill passed third reading in the House of Commons in June and will enter the House of Lords report stage on October 20.
The government said the legislation is expected to “become law this year”.
Ministers will also have the power to prevent planning permissions from being “timed out” for approved major housing schemes facing lengthy judicial reviews, the housing department said.
It added that this “builds on existing measures to reduce unfounded legal challenges to major infrastructure projects and shortens the statutory pre-consultation period by one year”.
Housing Secretary Steve Reid (pictured) said: “Britain’s potential is shackled by a government unwilling to overhaul a stubborn planning system that creates barriers to building on every front.
“The changes we are making today will reinforce the dramatic shifts already taking place in our landmark bill.
“We will ‘build, baby, build’ 1.5 million new homes and communities that meet the needs of working people who desperately want and need them.”
The government says its reforms will also speed up the construction of key projects of national significance, such as reservoirs or wind farms.
Labor said 150 planning decisions on major infrastructure projects will be made “on track” over the next five years, 21 of which have already been made in the first year of this parliament.
These include the £2.2 billion expansion of Gatwick Airport and the £10 billion Lower Thames Tunnel.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves added: “An outdated planning system is bogged down by cumbersome bureaucracy and held to permanent blackmail by obstructionists.
“Our pro-growth planning bill shows we are serious about cutting red tape and getting Britain building again, supporting builders rather than holding back projects faster and showing investors that we are a nation with a determined economy and a growing economy.”
Anna Moore, co-founder and chief executive of specialist renovation builder Domna, welcomed plans to simplify planning rules but said more needed to be done to bring England’s 350,000 long-term empty homes back into use.
Moore noted: “The government’s announcement of further simplification of planning rules is welcome, but ignores the elephant in the room in housing delivery – that it is far easier and cheaper to repair existing homes than to build new ones.
“It’s shocking that ministers are proposing to make compulsory purchase of new development sites easier but not existing vacant homes.
“While new build housing will be available over a few years, restoring the 350,000 long-term vacant homes will increase supply more quickly, without the associated costs or environmental impacts of new build housing.”
