Councils cautious over planning reforms

Councils cautious over planning reforms A national survey by GL Hearn and the British Property Federation has found that 88% of councils believe that the Government’s new planning reforms will lead to no change and may even decrease development. One in eight local authorities believed that the reforms would lead to more homes and economic growth, and 2% thought that the changes would produce a materially faster and leaner system. Private sector parties who were polled were also fairly downbeat. Just under a third said that the changes would lead to the construction of new homes or significant economic growth. GL Hearn also said it had researched the performance of London boroughs when processing major planning applications. It found that no boroughs achieved the Government’s target of processing an application in less than 13 weeks or less. The average across the capital was 35 weeks. Source: The Times, Page: 48: