The House Builders Federation has told the government that developers may have to draw back from ambitious, large-scale projects if the safety net of outline planning permission is withdrawn.
Also, social landlords would face greater risks when taking over local authority stock in regeneration areas, according to Dickon Robinson, director of development at the Peabody Trust – one of the country's largest developing associations.
Outline planning permission, which lasts for up to six years, gives theoretical permission for a development to go ahead subject to later, more detailed applications. The Planning Bill that is passing through parliament proposes replacing this with a statement of development principles that would involve a council saying what it planned to do with a patch of land.
HBF spokesman Pierre Williams said the new system was "vague and rather notional" and did not provide the same certainty as outline planning consent. He added: "Outline planning permission is pretty much the only tool developers have to try and gauge their potential output. Without it, they won't know what output they can hope to rely on."
Robinson said outline planning permission was an essential safety net for social landlords taking over council stock for clearance and rebuilding. He said: "We need to get comfort that the regeneration plans will be achievable in planning terms before we come to take the transfer. Until then, all our expenditure is at risk."
Robinson gave the example of the Kings Crescent estate in east London, where Peabody has just got outline planning consent for 880 homes. These will replace 450 council homes, with some sold on to cross-subsidise the project. He said: "Outline planning permission has given us the comfort that we will be able to build to a high density, which we need to do to safeguard our investment."
The ODPM declined to comment.
Source
Housing Today
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