Growth test would help unblock growth
A new report, ‘Unblocking Growth’, published by manufacturing trade association Make UK highlights the constraints imposed upon the manufacturing industry by the UK’s planning process.
It reports that nearly half of British manufacturers say that the planning system is holding back the UK’s economic potential and believe that the planning system is slowing their ability to grow their business -with the biggest barrier to this being planning regulations.
Richard Beresford, chief executive of the National Federation of Builders (NFB), said: “Non-housing projects do not get enough focus when we talk about planning reform, but they are key to placemaking because they provide the jobs, experiences and services that a healthy community needs. This is particularly important in manufacturing, as businesses that make things often bring their supply chain with them, in turn creating jobs for all and a pipeline of work for the regional construction industry.”
The report highlighted that rising costs caused by delays to the granting of planning permissions curb the financial viability of investments, with planning imposing ‘structural barriers’ to the growth of the manufacturing industry.
These barriers included planning process complexity, non-standardised decision making across Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) and an expensive, unpredictable and hard to navigate system. Environmental regulation aiming to protect species such as newts and bats were specifically reported by more than half of manufacturers as having affected planning proposals.
One of the reports key recommendations was the introduction of a ‘Manufacturing Growth Test’ for planning reform to ascertain whether reforms are adequately addressing the negative economic impact of the planning system’s deficiencies.
Further recommendations included the introduction of national planning guidance to limit inconsistent decision making amongst Local Planning Authorities, cuts to the cost and complexities of planning applications and a more proportional approach to environmental planning regulation with case-by-case negotiation of requirements.
Rico Wojtulewicz, director of policy and market insight, said: “Many people think of planning as just getting permission for a project, but it is far broader than that. Planning conditions, environmental regulation, local policies, legal sign off, levy payments, reports, committee hearings, to name a few, are all part of the planning process.
This can turn a two-year application into five or more years before a shovel goes into the ground, which for manufacturers may spell the end of growth plans because wasted time has diminished their competitive edge or their investment funds have drained away.
We need the government to speed up their planning reforms and ensure every policy has a pro-growth test. In the short term this means ensuring the recently consulted NPPF reforms are implemented as quickly as possible, that updated water and energy policies outside a permissions control are proportionate or not applicable and, for upcoming Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) reforms, make projects more viable when they focus on supporting species, rather than merely rewarding habitat creation.”