New national planning guidance could change the face of local communities.
Launched yesterday, it is aimed at streamlining the planning system, replacing 7,000 pages of current guidance contained in over 230 separate documents.
The guidance is currently in ‘beta’ form, meaning that for six weeks it is open for informal comment before coming into force. During this period, the old guidance remains live.
The new guidance calls on local councils to build more bungalows for older people, and introduces a new affordability test so that councils can decide how many new homes should be approved by local planners.
This will be based on local house prices, private rent levels and average local earnings. Councils would have to keep abreast of house prices and rents and, if they rise too high, would have a duty to increase housing supply. This could lead to more new developments, including ones that have been previously vetoed.
Planning minister Nick Boles said more housing was needed to make homes affordable for ordinary people.
He said: “Just as there is a legal obligation for authorities to provide school places and healthcare to everyone who needs it, so too they must now provide affordable homes.
“House prices are out of reach for many.”
Boles also said: “Planning shouldn’t just be the preserve of technocrats, lawyers and council officers.
“Yet up to now even the experts have struggled to plough through all the background documents and find the right advice.
“To be effective our planning system needs to be supported by practical guidance that anyone can consult and follow.”
However, the proposals have not gone down well with everyone.
London Tory council Richmond said Westminster was meddling in local government affairs. Deputy leader Nick True said: “A period of silence from Mr Boles would be welcome.”
While some have welcomed more bungalows – last year, just 1,700 were given permission – Churchill Retirement Living condemned the plan as madness.
Spencer McCarthy, chairman and managing director of Churchill Retirement Living, said: “I urge the Government to abandon this crazy proposal before it is too late.
“Bungalows waste land and eat up the Green Belt. Worst of all, because it is virtually impossible to build bungalows near town centres, bungalows often mean old people are abandoned in remote and inaccessible locations – far from friends, families and loved ones.”
The planning guidance can be found at the link below.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-streamlined-planning-guide-launched-online
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Comments
Let's put the pensioners in jail and the criminals in a nursing home.
This way the pensioners would have access to showers, hobbies and walks.
They'd receive unlimited free prescriptions, dental and medical treatment, wheel chairs etc and they'd receive money instead of paying it out.
They would have constant video monitoring, so they could be helped instantly, if they fell, or needed assistance.
Bedding would be washed twice a week, and all clothing would be ironed and returned to them.
A guard would check on them every 20 minutes and bring their meals and snacks to their cell.
They would have family visits in a suite built for that purpose.
They would have access to a library, weight room, spiritual counselling, pool and education.
Simple clothing, shoes, slippers, PJ's and legal aid would be free, on request.
Private, secure rooms for all, with an exercise outdoor yard, with gardens.
Each senior could have a PC a TV radio and daily phone calls.
There would be a board of directors to hear complaints, and the guards would have a code of conduct that would be strictly adhered to.
The criminals would get cold food, be left all alone and unsupervised. Lights off at 8pm, and showers once a week. Live in a tiny room and pay £600.00 per week and have no hope of ever getting out.
Dilemma and a half for the majority of NIMBYers who are older
So if a developer wants to build houses on a difficult site, what he has to do is go out and buy a few cheap properties in the area thereby pushing up competition and prices.
He then gets his planning consent and immediately sells the properties again.
Brilliant strategy to obtain consent on otherwise difficult site.
This is all wrong
We need to build pods where the elderly are forced to stand upright all day and not be let out, that way we could get loads into a cul-de-sac close to a shop (have their stuff delivered through a slot), and solve the congestion problems on the roads too
Indeed parliament could pass a law saying that everyone over 65 had to have one - housing crisis over in a jiffy
Well said - Bungalows are clearly evil. The aging population could be vacuum packed into archive boxes and sent to landfil thus ensuring there is no waste of land. How dare anyone suggest that people who have worked all their lives should have the outragous luxury of outside space.
Maybe, set up multi stroey communes or utilise such natural assets like the Cheddar Caves. Or maybe do a deal with The Big Yellow Storage Company?
I am sure there must be a better way to protect Churchill Retirement Living's income forecasts.
What a surprise. Churchill Retirement Living don't like people building bungalows!!! Maybe we should all live in tiny retirement boxes instead. We urgently need a national supply of bungalows to meet the very considerable demand. In this area we have a plethora of empty retirement flats that nobody wants and a complete lack of bungalows.