The planning system in the UK has been regularly criticised by housebuilders, who believe it creates delays to new developments.

Gavin Barwell, minister of state for housing and planning, said recently that the government has been leading the way with planning reforms in an attempt to speed up housebuilding.  

However, according to Steve Turner, director of communications at the Home Builders Federation, although the new government planning system was a good thing, tweaks still needed to be made.

“I think the biggest problems with the planning system are the complexities and costs in getting an application processed. 

“From getting an outline permission to getting to the ‘implementable’ stage, whereby builders can get on to sites and start actually building, can take years.

“This in particular impacts SME builders who do not have the resources or budgets to be able to navigate the system.”

Rico Wojtulewicz, policy adviser for the National Federation of Builders, added: “For the majority of developers a lack of consistent advice and increased red tape are immediate barriers to planning. 

“Under-resourced planning departments exacerbate those problems and so for SMEs especially, the cost and span to achieve planning regularly affects project viability.”

Steve also pointed to the fact that many local authorities did not have local housing plans in place, which was a “fundamental” flaw in the plan-led system.

“We also need government to ensure local authorities sufficiently resource their planning departments such that they can deal with an increasing number of applications promptly.

“Local authorities need to allocate a mix of sites attractive to both large and small developers and that provide for different types of housing, including retirement housing and private for rent – and don’t just rely on one large site to address their housing need.”

James Bloom, managing director of development finance at Masthaven, did believe developers could do more to help them negotiate the planning system.

“The most important part of the planning process is the research before submission.  

“Looking more into the adopted planning policies and the likelihood of obtaining the planning they are seeking can help save valuable time and money.”

Meanwhile, Rico also felt that the planning system for new entrants could be quite complicated. 

“Some may feel a pre-application meeting sets the tone for acceptance, others may adopt a similar working practice in different local authorities and many underestimate the overall cost in terms of delay and financial contribution.”

However, James concluded: “Even to get outline planning with all of the reports needed is far too expensive especially for the smaller schemes.

“Until there is substantial reform of the planning process, these will always be the biggest issues relating to planning.”