Calls for Further Action to Boost Planning Efficiency
As the property industry prepares to meet in Leeds at UKREIIF startling new research called How Long is a Piece of String highlights the challenges that the industry has faced from the planning system.
The major new study commissioned by the Land, Planning and Development Federation (LPDF) and Richborough reveals that it is taking nearly three times as long to determine planning applications than it did in 2014, despite falling numbers of applications. The findings highlight the need for the Government to go further in its reforms than those announcements already made if it is to meet its ambition of delivering 1.5 million homes by 2029.
The research, carried out by planning consultancy Lichfields, analysed 18,200 major outline planning applications between 2014 and 2024. It found that the average time to determine a major residential outline application by a Local Planning Authority had reached 783 days, increasing by 175% since 2014. In 2024, only 4% of applications were determined within the statutory 13-week timeframe, with just 36% determined within a year—a stark contrast to 78% a decade ago.
The Government’s recent reforms—including changes to the National Planning Policy Framework and the proposals set out in the new Planning and Infrastructure Bill—are welcome and signal a renewed commitment to tackling the challenges in the system. However, the evidence is clear that we must go further to restore confidence, improve certainty, and enable timely delivery of new homes.
To accelerate delivery, the report outlines recommendations across four key areas—policy, process, practice and performance—including:
Key Recommendations
- Policy:
- Strengthen the presumption in favour of sustainable development.
- Provide greater clarity on how unmet housing need should be addressed, particularly in areas with out-of-date Local Plans.
- Process:
- Simplify and standardise outline planning application requirements.
- Introduce model planning conditions and template legal agreements to reduce negotiation times and uncertainty.
- Practice:
- Encourage local authorities to frontload engagement and adopt proportionate information requirements.
- Promote earlier use of Planning Performance Agreements to improve collaboration and case management.
- Performance:
- Monitor and publish performance metrics for local planning authorities beyond simple decision timescales.
- Expand the use of digital tools, standardised templates, and AI to reduce duplication and streamline workflows.
Paul Brocklehurst, Chair of the LPDF, who has welcomed the Planning and Infrastructure Bill as a further step in the right direction emphasised that it was now necessary to focus on measures that ensured implementation through immediate improvements to the development management process, rather than strategic policy:
“We welcome the direction of travel set by the Planning and Infrastructure Bill and the changes to the NPPF – they show the Government recognises the urgent need for change. But this research makes it clear that incremental reform isn’t enough. We need a planning system that is faster, consistent, and better resourced—one that truly supports the delivery of the homes this country so badly needs. We need urgent changes to the system to ensure that businesses feel confident to invest in making planning applications now in order that the Government achieves its target of delivering 300,000 homes a year.
The impact of the issues highlighted in this research have been felt particularly by our small and medium sized developers whose contribution to the homes we build in this country has decreased over the last 4 decades from 40% in the 1980s to just 10% today – stifling consumer choice, competition and innovation. More and more housebuilders have been worn down by their inability to manage their businesses due to a planning system that fails them.”
Paul Campbell, Chief Executive at Richborough added: “Outline permissions are the foundation for housing supply, so rapid action is needed to boost consents. The planning delays are also particularly damaging to smaller developers, who often lack the capacity to absorb long waits and uncertain outcomes—stifling competition and innovation in the sector.”
While improved resourcing is vital, the research concludes that deeper structural reform is needed to reduce complexity, increase consistency, and create a genuinely enabling planning system that works for communities, local authorities, and developers alike.
For more details please contact land@richborough.co.uk