Planning reform: government to impose measures to increase delivery of local plans

Cameron and Osborne said in The Times newspaper that the government will address issues relating to the adoption of local plans and the measures to increase housing supply and home ownership. The measures referred to will be further explained in the productivity plan which is due to be released tomorrow.

Cameron and Osborne said "it is unacceptable … that many councils are still not close to having a plan for delivering the homes their communities need". The government's ambition is to make the planning system more effective by implementing of local plans in communities where an up to date local plan has not been adopted. The government will consult with the relevant communities and take action to ensure that a plan is delivered.

A recent report prepared by estate agency Savills highlighted the number of local authorities where an up to date plan has not been adopted. The report concluded that only 77 of the 293 local authorities outside London and the national parks have adopted a local plan since the introduction of the National Planning Policy Framework in 2012. Therefore, 222 local authorities still need to implement an up to date plan. However, the report showed that 165 local councils were in the process of creating a plan but that these had been delayed.

Planning expert Thomas Edwards of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said "Most in the industry would agree that the adoption of up to date local plans would be a positive thing. However, there are a myriad of reasons why local authorities have not yet adopted their local plans, such as lack of resources and the continuing evolution of planning policy at the national level. "

"The government will need to focus on addressing these issues to assist in delivering local plans," said Edwards. "We will need to await the detail to be included in the productivity plan, but it will be interesting to see how the government balances planning decision making at the local level through the localism agenda with the imposition of sanctions against local authorities to get plans adopted."