Take, for example, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s recent proposal to build on green belt land. While headline-grabbing, it really raises more questions than it answers.

Similarly, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner’s pledge to deliver 1.5 million homes over the next five years is ambitious and welcome, and her commitment to backing smaller housebuilders and cutting ‘identikit’ developments resonates strongly with our sector (and likely buyers too).

But when it comes to reclassifying “grey belt” land, we must be clear-eyed about the practicalities.

Green belt reform is fraught with legal complexities, political hurdles and slow-moving — that’s if it even gets off the ground at all. The risks of delay, challenge from conservationists and reversal are significant, and all at a time when we need urgency and clarity in the development pipeline.

The housing shortfall demands action that moves the dial now, not the next decade.

Fortunately, there are solutions that don’t require reinventing the wheel.

The latest planning rules announcement from the UK government is a case in point. The new package of reforms aims to streamline planning for SME developers, easing regulatory burdens and helping to unlock smaller sites.

In a welcome move, minor developments of up to nine homes will benefit from faster decisions and relaxed Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) requirements. A new ‘medium site’ category – between 10 - 49 homes - will also face simpler rules, including exemptions from the Building Safety Levy.

The sigh of relief among SME developers is audible: this is a positive step and will be welcomed by those caught in a highly bureaucratic and under-resourced planning system that has long favoured larger players.

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Planning has consistently been the number one barrier identified by SME developers, with costs and time soaring. Action must follow swiftly to ensure these reforms translate into real-world action.

Repurposing redundant commercial buildings is another underutilised opportunity. With hybrid working now entrenched among the working population, a proportion of the UK’s office and retail stock no longer meets modern needs.

With the right incentives, conversions can deliver high-quality homes faster than new builds — and without the political friction of green belt reform.

Meanwhile, the government’s proposal to potentially penalise land banking — making developers sell off undeveloped sites —marks a significant shift in tone.

While aimed at tackling stalled schemes — a common habit by bigger developers — it reinforces the need for a clearer, faster and more predictable planning environment. Without that, even well-intentioned policy goals will fall short.

At Paragon Bank, we see every day what’s possible when planning and funding align.

Since 2018, we’ve committed over £3bn in development finance, enabling the delivery of around 13,000 homes. Yet we know we, and indeed the rest of the sector, are barely scratching the surface of what’s needed — and what could be achieved with sensible, pragmatic legislative reform.

The government’s £100m pledge to boost planning department staffing is a welcome move.

But it must be paired with accountability and enforceable service standards. Enforcing a 12-week statutory deadline for planning decisions would unlock many viable, sustainable schemes already in the pipeline.

The solutions to our housing crisis don’t have to be radical. They just need to be realistic, impactful and backed by a planning framework that allows developers to get on and build.