Stifling local democracy won’t fix the housing crisis, warns CPRE

The government’s plans to reform local planning committees will undermine democracy without addressing the underlying causes of the housing crisis, warns a new briefing from CPRE, the countryside charity. 

Local planning committees give members of the public a right to speak directly to local politicians about the potential impact of proposed developments. The new Planning & Infrastructure Bill seeks to reduce the already tiny proportion of planning applications that these committees consider. 

Despite the government’s claims that local planning committees are responsible for the slow delivery of new homes, the committees decide just 4% of applications.

The real problem lies with big housebuilders, which maximise their profits by hoarding planning permissions while drip-feeding unaffordable, poor-quality properties onto the market. There are currently more than a million potential new homes in the UK that have been granted planning permission but have not yet been built.  

In most cases planning committees only handle significant applications with major impacts that go beyond established local plans or which are made by councils themselves. But, particularly in rural areas, smaller developments can also have a significant impact on local heritage or on transport networks. The proposed reforms would mean decisions on these applications would be made by a single unelected planning officer. 

There are also major concerns that legal restrictions on the role of committees could also make it easier for developers to renege on promises of affordable housing or good design in new developments. 

CPRE’s new briefing shows how local planning committees secure positive outcomes for communities and the environment, frequently have their decisions upheld on appeal, and can help the government achieve its housebuilding targets in a sustainable way.

The briefing also proposes that the government should learn from local authorities that delegate higher than average proportions of applications to planning officers but still allow committees to intervene in a meaningful way.

For example, Shropshire Council has consistently exceeded government targets for the speed and quality of its decision making on planning applications. In 2024, its effective system for referring planning applications to committee meant that 97% of all applications were delegated to planning officers. It decided on 82% of applications within 13 weeks (or as agreed with the applicant) and approved 87% of the total. 

CPRE is calling on the government not to curtail the role of local planning committees. It argues that the government should:

• allow locally important cases to be decided by planning committees, a model that already works well in local authorities such as Shropshire

• address the real barriers to housing delivery by compelling developers to build homes for which planning permission has already been given 

• set ambitious and enforceable targets for genuinely affordable and social homes on shovel-ready brownfield sites.

CPRE head of policy and planning Paul Miner said: ‘Local planning committees play a vital role in our democracy. They give ordinary people a say in major changes to their local area, hold elected representatives to account and push for high-quality housing built in the right locations.