Latest news with #planningreform
Sky News
3 days ago
- Business
- Sky News
Govt vows to protect 'pavement pints' and make it easier for pubs to extend their opening hours
"A wave of new cafes, bars, music venues and outdoor dining" could come to the UK - as the government unveils plans to overhaul planning rules and "breathe new life into the high street". Under the proposals, ministers also want to reform licensing rules to make it easier for disused shops to be converted into hospitality venues. In a statement, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she planned to scrap "clunky, outdated rules... to protect pavement pints, al fresco dining and street parties". The reforms also aim to prevent existing pubs, clubs, and music venues from suffering noise complaints when new properties hit the market. Developers who decide to build near those sites will be required to soundproof their buildings. As part of dedicated "hospitality zones", permission for al fresco dining, street parties and extended opening hours will be fast-tracked. The government says the reforms aim to modernise outdated planning and licensing rules as part of its Plan for Change, to help small businesses and improve local communities. The rough plans will be subject to a "call for evidence" which could further shape policy. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the proposals will "put the buzz back into our town centres". "Red tape has stood in the way of people's business ideas for too long. Today we're slashing those barriers to giving small business owners the freedom to flourish," he said. The hospitality industry has broadly welcomed the changes but argued tax reform was also essential. Kate Nicholls, chairwoman of UKHospitality, described the proposals as "positive and encouraging". However, she added: "They can't on their own offset the immediate and mounting cost pressures facing hospitality businesses which threaten to tax out of existence the businesses and jobs that today's announcement seeks to support." While supporting the reforms, Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), had a similar message. "These changes must go hand in hand with meaningful business rates reform, mitigating staggering employment costs, and a cut in beer duty so that pubs can thrive at the heart of the community," she said. In July, BBPA estimated that 378 pubs will shut this year across England, Wales and Scotland, compared with 350 closures in 2024, which it said would amount to more than 5,600 direct job losses. 2:03 Bar chain Brewdog announced this week that it would close 10 sites, partly blaming "rising costs, increased regulation, and economic pressures". Andrew Griffith MP, shadow business secretary, said: "Though any cutting of red tape for hospitality businesses is welcome, this is pure hypocrisy and inconsistency from Labour." He said the government was "crippling the hospitality industry by doubling business rates, imposing a jobs tax and a full-on strangulation of employment red tape".
BBC News
23-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Waverley council asks Angela Rayner to reform CIL legislation
A Surrey council has written to Housing Secretary Angela Rayner calling for planning legislation reforms after residents were charged up to £70,000 for work to their Borough Council says current rules around the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) mean there are limited options to intervene when residents face "life-changing financial penalties" for incorrectly following planning comes after a group of homeowners in the area say they have received bills up to £70,000 for works under current leader Paul Follows said it was "hard to justify the same bureaucracy and penalties for someone simply trying to build a granny annexe or extra bedrooms". He said: "If the council makes an error, we'll do everything we can to put it right, but when a resident makes an honest mistake, our hands are tied."That's why we need national reform. Councils must be given the flexibility to act with fairness and common sense." CIL is a typically a payment charged to developers as a contribution towards essential some homeowners have faced bills under current legislation after unintentionally failing to follow the planning application council says it is "working within its limited powers" to fix issues but has called for further powers to be able to intervene when issues is currently setting up a discretionary review system where homeowners can have charges reassessed if they believe they have been billed Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government has been approached for comment.
The Guardian
09-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
We need a better planning bill than this
Environmental organisations have not 'changed their tune' on planning reforms (England's planning bill has many naysayers. I'm not one of them, 4 June). As it stands, the bill has major flaws and is a long way from achieving a win-win for nature and development. Environmentalists engaged around the bill in good faith, but, when published, it was clear it was missing the safeguards needed – and the government's own independent adviser, the Office for Environmental Protection, agrees. The bill does not set out a responsibility to avoid harm to nature and communities wherever possible. We need such a duty to drive development that takes the best route for people and nature, not the low-quality option. We need the proposed Nature Restoration Fund to provide guaranteed results, with evidence to back this up. Without such guarantees the scheme allows destruction of nature on a wing and a prayer that it will effectively be restored elsewhere. Ensuring certainty of outcomes and robust protections are not just vital for nature, they are good lawmaking. Our job is to defend nature, so we must challenge these major protection gaps now and champion the changes that are needed. If not, the whole country will pay the price for a flawed system in future, with increased nature loss, greater pollution and less healthy communities. It makes economic sense too, with nature degradation estimated to lead to a 12% decrease in GDP in coming years. We know the system can work better – it is possible to create a planning system that works hand in hand to deliver wildlife recovery at scale, and the new homes we need. The nature sector has always been, and remains willing, to come to the table with the government to achieve the win-win we all Bennett CEO, the Wildlife Trusts, Beccy Speight CEO, RSPB, Harry Bowell Director of land and nature, National Trust, Ali Plummer Director of policy and advocacy, Wildlife and Countryside Link
Telegraph
24-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Rayner gives councils more power to seize land from housebuilders
Angela Rayner will give councils powers to seize land from housebuilders who fail to complete developments on time. For the first time, developers will have to commit to delivery timeframes before they get planning permission. They will also have to submit annual reports to councils showing their progress. Housebuilders who secure planning permissions 'simply to trade land speculatively' could face penalties worth thousands per unbuilt home, the Government said. The Government hopes the proposals will see promised new homes delivered faster. Ms Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary, said: 'This Government has taken radical steps to overhaul the planning system to get Britain building again after years of inaction. 'In the name of delivering security for working people, we are backing the builders not the blockers. Now it's time for developers to roll up their sleeves and play their part. 'We're going even further to get the homes we need. No more sites with planning permission gathering dust for decades while a generation struggle to get on the housing ladder.' Ms Rayner unveiled the reforms following a week in which speculation ran rampant that she is positioning herself for a run at the Labour leadership. A leaked memo from Ms Rayner to the Chancellor, in which she proposed a series of tax rises, was seen as a challenge by the Left to Sir Keir Starmer. Reports also emerged that Ms Rayner has been involved in heated discussions with No 10 about planned cuts to her budget. Rumours had circulated around Westminster that Sir Kier was preparing to strip her of her housing brief and effectively demote her in a Cabinet reshuffle. Kevin Hollinrake, the shadow housing secretary, said: 'We need more houses for people in Britain and we support measures to ensure developers speed up housebuilding. 'But they are adding so many burdens on builders, their targets already seem like a distant memory. And as Rayner has admitted live on air, many of these houses will end up going to migrants.' The senior Conservative added: 'With Labour's open-door border policy, this problem is only going to get worse, not better. And many hard-working Brits will be shut out of the housing market forever. 'In the same week that Angela Rayner has been caught red-handed plotting to raise everyone's taxes, it's clear she doesn't have the interests of working people at heart.' On Sunday, the Government is publishing a Planning Reform Working Paper setting out the proposals. Large housing sites can take more than 10 years to build, but those with more affordable homes can be built twice as fast, the Government said. 'Developers drag their heels' Housing charity Shelter welcomed the plans. Alicia Walker, its assistant director of advocacy and activism, said: 'It's good to see the Government getting tougher on private developers. With 1.3 million households waiting for a social home and homelessness continuing to climb, we urgently need new homes built at speed. 'Developers drag their heels when building new homes to keep prices high and make bigger profits – often dodging their responsibility to build social housing altogether. 'Meanwhile, thousands of families who are bearing the brunt of the housing emergency, homeless in temporary accommodation or crushed by skyrocketing rents, cannot afford to wait. 'Getting private developers to build new homes faster is crucial, but the only way to end the housing emergency for good is to get councils and housing associations building social housing as well. 'To do this, the Government must invest in building 90,000 social rent homes a year for 10 years in the upcoming Spending Review.'
The Independent
22-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Planning reforms break Labour's promise to protect nature, green groups say
The Government's planning reforms break its manifesto promises to protect and restore the nation's natural environment, green groups have claimed. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill going through Parliament overrides existing habitat and nature protections, which the Government considers to be a barrier to housebuilding and economic growth. The draft legislation, if passed, would instead allow developers to make general environmental improvements and pay into a nature restoration fund that improves habitats on other sites. But the Office for Environmental Protection watchdog recently warned that the Bill represents a 'regression' in environmental law and would remove safeguards for nature. The Government's own assessment of the Bill also found little evidence green protections are a blocker to development. The Wildlife Trusts and the RSPB are now warning that irreplaceable habitats such as chalk streams and ancient woodland, species such as hazel dormice and otters, and areas such as the New Forest and Peak District Moors will no longer be as strongly protected from development. The groups said they have been calling for a series of amendments to tone down what they see as the most damaging aspects of the Bill but that the Government has failed to listen to their concerns or consider their 'constructive solutions'. Now they want to see ministers remove part of the nature recovery section entirely, which they say replaces environmental protections with a weaker substitute. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill was introduced in March and comes as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves argue that current nature rules have gone too far, often citing the £100 million HS2 bat tunnel. Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, said: 'Before the general election, Labour promised to restore nature. 'Under a year later, the Chancellor is leading an ideological charge against the natural world despite it being the very foundation of the economy, society and people's health. 'Promises have been broken, and millions of people have been betrayed.' Mr Bennett said the Bill in its current form 'fundamentally undermines' the Government's commitment to protect nature, describing proposals on nature recovery as a 'Trojan horse' and a 'misnomer'. He also said the organisation is 'appalled' that the suggestions it has put forward to ministers have 'all been spurned'. The organisations also published research on Thursday arguing that nature does not block economic growth. It found that bats and great crested newts – protected species often cited in arguments for removing planning barriers – are a factor in just 3% of planning appeal decisions. Alongside the paper, a Savanta survey commissioned by the Wildlife Trusts suggests less than a third (32%) of the British public feel the Government has kept its promises to improve access to nature, promote biodiversity and protect wildlife. The poll also found just 26% of the 2,035 respondents believe the Government is taking the nature crisis seriously enough while just 25% said they would back building developments in their area even if they harmed the local environment. Beccy Speight, RSPB chief executive, said the organisation engaged 'in good faith' with the Government for months but that the current draft legislation will 'rip the heart out of environmental protections and risks sending nature further into freefall'. 'The fate of our most important places for nature and the laws that protect them are all in the firing line,' she said. 'That cannot be allowed to stand. 'The evidence clearly shows nature isn't a blocker to growth. 'The Government has identified the wrong obstacle to the problem it's trying to overcome, and that has led it to the wrong solutions.' A Government spokesperson said: 'We completely reject these claims. The government has inherited a failing system that has delayed new homes and infrastructure while doing nothing for nature's recovery, and we are determined to fix this through our Plan for Change. 'That's why our Planning and Infrastructure Bill will deliver a win-win for the economy and nature by unblocking building and economic growth, and delivering meaningful environmental improvements.'
