Planning blockages and delays have been one of the main factors blamed for housebuilding<\/a> in the UK consistently falling below government targets in recent years, affecting both the construction of homes and of supporting infrastructure.<\/p>\n In a similar way to the previous government, Labour has set out housebuilding targets<\/a> since it won the general election last year, stipulating a goal of 1.5 million new homes during this parliament – or by 2029 when the next general election is set to be held.<\/p>\n A key part of this plan has been planning reform, although there are also concerns around the UK’s shortage of skilled workers in the construction industry as well as the availability and pricing of basic building materials such as bricks and timber.<\/p>\n On 11th March, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill<\/a> was introduced to parliament, setting out a number of “significant measures” that are intended to “speed up planning decisions to boost housebuilding and remove unnecessary blockers and challenges to the delivery of vital developments like roads, railway lines and windfarms”.<\/p>\n The party also hopes this will boost economic growth, along with connectivity and energy security, with part of the proposal also aimed at “delivering for the environment”.<\/p>\n There are eight key sections covered in the newly introduced Planning and Infrastructure Bill:<\/p>\n Many in the industry are optimistic about the government’s plans for unlocking the planning system and allowing more growth in the construction<\/a> industry, although there remains other barriers to housebuilding.<\/p>\n Mark Reynolds, Executive Chair of Mace Group and Co-Chair of the Construction Leadership Council, said: “For too long the UK\u2019s planning systems have inhibited growth, with layer upon layer of checks and balances stifling productivity, confidence, investment and jobs.<\/p>\n “These proposed changes show this government is listening to industry and taking reform seriously; recognising that new homes and infrastructure are necessary to inject life into the economy.<\/p>\n “Our construction industry is ready to meet the challenge, and the measures highlight how mindful growth can support communities and our net-zero ambitions.”<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Knight Frank’s Anna Ward notes that the latest bill alongside the government’s heavy focus on housebuilding and delivery should “create new opportunities in the residential development market”.<\/p>\n However, she notes that a pick-up in housing demand<\/a> alongside an increase in housebuilding activity could “further strain the availability of skilled subcontractors and materials, resulting in increased costs and construction delays”.<\/p>\n She concludes: “While the government\u2019s signals have been encouraging, this spring presents a key opportunity to outline concrete proposals that could attract more talent and drive greater investment in the sector.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last week, Labour’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill was introduced to parliament, and the construction industry hopes it will kick-start UK housebuilding. Planning blockages and delays have been one of the main factors blamed for housebuilding in the UK consistently falling below government targets in recent years, affecting both the construction of homes and of supporting… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1069,"featured_media":6101022,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,4,59,6],"tags":[19,72,438],"class_list":["post-6101021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-construction","category-investment","category-trending-news","category-uk-housing-market","tag-construction","tag-housebuilding","tag-planning"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6101021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1069"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6101021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6101021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6101022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6101021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6101021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6101021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What’s in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill?<\/h3>\n
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Impact on housebuilding<\/h3>\n