Neighbourhood Planning Bill, House of Lords, Second Reading, 17 January 2017
Key messages
- Local government shares the Government's ambition to increase housing supply. Local government wants to play a leading role in building new homes and we support measures that will enable councils to capture the value from increased land prices on land they acquire for development. This will allow investment in the vital infrastructure that supports and boosts housebuilding and creates places that people want to live. The Bill could do more to help the Government achieve its ambitions on speeding up the delivery of new homes, particularly those that have already been granted planning permission.
- The Final Report of the LGA's Housing Commission, published in December 2016, sets out recommendations for how local and central government can work together to build homes that are affordable, that meet the needs of communities and our ageing population, and that are well supported by services and infrastructure.1 This includes resourcing an efficient, positive and proactive planning service.
- We would like to see the Bill amended to permit planning fees to be set locally by councils. This would enable local authorities to deliver responsive council planning services that are crucial to growth and building the homes we need.
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