“Councils are committed to working with government and developers to build the housing the country needs, with land for more than 2.6 million homes allocated in Local Plans and nine in 10 planning applications being approved."
Responding to a report by the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee, which says it is difficult to see how the government target of 300,000 new homes a year in England by the mid-2020s will be achieved if mandatory local housing targets are dropped, Cllr Darren Rodwell, housing spokesperson for the Local Government Association, said:
“Councils are committed to working with government and developers to build the housing the country needs, with land for more than 2.6 million homes allocated in Local Plans and nine in 10 planning applications being approved
“As this report highlights, local council planning departments face significant challenges in recruitment and retention and we need a comprehensive planning skills strategy to address this, which should be urgently brought forward.
“We also have significant concerns that the proposed Infrastructure Levy will result in fewer, not more, affordable homes delivered, will expose councils to excessive levels of financial risks, and be increasingly burdensome and complex for local authorities to implement and manage.
“National, top-down algorithms and formulas can never be a substitute for local knowledge and decision-making by those who know their areas best. We have been clear that councils and communities are best placed to decide how to build the right homes in the right places in their local areas, with the right infrastructure.”