Briefings and responses

Councils are committed to ensuring new homes are built and communities have quality places to live. It is vital that these are delivered through a locally-led planning system with public participation at its heart which gives communities the power to ensure new developments are of a high standard, built in the right places, and include affordable homes.

Councils have a key role to play in building good quality social homes, and in enforcing strong standards. In addition, local authorities must be empowered to provide access to the right infrastructure, through the planning system, to allow people to live healthy lives.

The LGA continues to campaign for a locally led planning system and this is particularly important as we rebuild and recover from COVID-19.

The housing shortage is one of the most pressing issues we face. Councils have a key role in delivering more affordable housing and helping to build 300,000 new homes a year.

The planning process needs developers, councils and local communities to work together to create effective partnerships. The earlier in the planning process these relationships are built, the more likely it is that positive outcomes will be achieved for local communities from new development.

The planning process needs developers, councils and local communities to work together to create effective partnerships. The earlier in the planning process these relationships are built, the more likely it is that positive outcomes will be achieved.

The green paper is a step towards delivering more social homes but it is only a small step, compared with the huge and immediate need for more genuinely affordable homes.

Councils are working hard to deliver the right kind of homes, and are currently approving nine out of ten planning permissions. However, planning departments are severely under-resourced. Taxpayers are subsidising the costs of planning applications by around £200 million a year.

Right now councils are housing 77,000 families and 125,000 homeless children in temporary accommodation, with a further million on waiting lists. The last time the country built enough homes councils built 40 per cent of them. We urgently need a renaissance in council house building. 

Private rents have reached record highs, with private rents rising an average of five per cent in the 12 months up to May 2023 and more than 25 percent since the start of the pandemic. Rising housing costs are a significant factor in driving financial hardship and homelessness.