Our reaction to the government’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill

Today, our Chief Investment Officer, Amanda Williams, shared our reaction to the government’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill:

“We fully support the government’s ambition to speed up housing delivery and making the UK’s planning system more efficient is a step in the right direction. Fast-tracking local plan schemes that have already designated a compliant amount of affordable housing for development, by delegating consent to local planning officers, could seriously improve the process and critically see a lot more vital affordable and social housing built.

“It is crucial however, that greater speed doesn’t mean compromising on delivering the right homes – volume must always be balanced with ensuring communities get the types of quality housing they truly need.

“Additionally, a more agile planning process presents an opportunity to embrace more innovative approaches to affordable housing delivery. A well-oiled planning system should create more bandwidth to expand the use of alternative delivery methods, such as community land trusts (CLTs), alongside traditional mechanisms like Section 106 agreements. This means we can move beyond just hitting housing targets and focus on building homes that truly meet the needs of communities.”