<div><p><b>On 13 March 2019, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, delivered the Spring Statement 2019. As part of this, he announced that further planning reforms would be taken forward to help put the government on track to reaching its target of 300,000 new houses a year.</b></p><p>Alongside the statement, two written ministerial statements were made:</p><ul><li><a data-sf-ec-immutable="" href="http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spring-statement-2019-written-ministerial-statement">a written ministerial statement by Philip Hammond</a> providing more detail on some of the announcements in the Spring Statement 2019, and</li><li><a data-sf-ec-immutable="" href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2019-03-13/HCWS1408/">a written ministerial statement by the </a><b>Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (SHCLG) </b>providing further detail on forthcoming planning reforms<br></li></ul><p><b>Our overall verdict</b></p><p>Commitments to tackle the under-delivery of new housing featured heavily, with the government confirming that it will take forward various minor technical planning reforms consulted on in 2018. This includes the extension of permitted development rights to permit upward extensions and making permanent the existing permitted development rights for larger single storey rear extensions to dwellings. While these changes will be welcomed by homeowners and developers, it is questionable what impact these changes will have in terms of meeting the government’s ambitious house-building targets.</p><p>Proposals to consult on how local areas can innovatively use planning tools to support their high streets are questionable: local authorities already have the powers mentioned, but due to resourcing and funding issues rarely use them to proactively improve their areas. The same point applies to the commitment to introduce additional planning guidance to support housing diversification on large sites, which will involve yet further change which over-stretched planning departments and planning inspectors will have to grapple with. It remains to be seen whether the green paper on greater capacity and capability in the planning process will commit the government to spend significantly on resourcing issues in planning departments and at the Planning Inspectorate.</p><p><b>What are the Spring Statement 2019’s headlines for planning and infrastructure?</b></p><p>The key planning announcements in the Spring Statement 2019 and related written ministerial statements contain commitments to:</p><ul><li>publish a consultation exploring potential changes to help local areas make better use of planning tools to support their local high streets, including through compulsory purchase orders, local development orders, and other ‘innov</li></ul></div>
Source: LexisNexis Purpose Built
Government announces further planning reform alongside Spring Statement 2019
