The Alliance has responded to the planning for the right homes in the right places consultation. Due to the consultation requiring use of a proforma our response begins on page 43. Please note to view the full text of our responses to the questions you have to click the text box to get a scroll bar to appear.
Our response sets out our concerns over the Government’s proposed new formula for calculating local housing need. This takes into account, among other things, house prices. Affordability of housing does not directly correlate with local housing need and should not be used in the formula. For example, if a house price crash reduced house prices substantially this would not affect the number of local families needing a home – it might make homes more affordable for some. The proposed formula would see large increases in local housing need local authorities would be required, to meet, but pressure on the historic environment. The consultation also looks at increases in planning fees. While the Alliance welcomes increased resources for local authorities we expressed concerns over fee increases being applied to applications for listed building consent rather than large developments of new housing.