Expert welcomes inclusion of housing in major infrastructure needs assessment

There is now "recognition across the industry that housing and infrastructure should be planned together", making the inclusion of housing in the recent National Needs Assessment (NNA) "noteworthy in itself", according to Robbie Owen, an expert in major infrastructure planning at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com and one of the authors of the report.

Owen said that he was "particularly pleased" to see the recommendation that major housing proposals should be considered as part of the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Planning (NSIP) regime make its way into the final report. Developments of 5,000 units or more would then have in-principle government support, allowing developers to "develop them in detail in partnership with local authorities and other organisations, and in combination with the required on and off-site infrastructure", according to the report.

"I hope the government takes this into consideration in preparing the Housing White Paper," Owen said.

"We need bold leadership from the government to meet housing targets. It's challenging for local authorities to press ahead with large housing schemes as they are often unpopular. Housing needs to be viewed as vital infrastructure for the economy of the country, and will therefore need central government intervention working in partnership with local authorities and the private sector," he said.

The government is due to publish a 'white paper' setting out its plans to speed up the delivery of house building later this year, as announced during the recent Conservative Party conference and later confirmed in parliament. Ahead of this, it has invited providers of infrastructure that will speed up housing developments to bid for a share of £2 billion as part of the Home Building Fund.

The NNA was published last week having been produced by Sir John Armitt of the Institute of Civil Engineers (ICA) with contributions from Atkins, KPMG, Pinsent Masons and the Infrastructure Transitions Research Consortium (ITRC) at the University of Oxford. The report makes a number of recommendations intended to guide the government-backed National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) as it produces its own National Infrastructure Assessment for the government, planned for 2018.

In its report, the NNA warned that inadequate housing supply was "constraining" the UK's economic opportunities. It also said that uncertainty as to where new housing developments would be located given the limitations of the local planning system "undermines our capacity to plan infrastructure services for the future".

"Housing development will always require a balance between local and national objectives, as well as private homes and other types of housing such as rented accommodation," the report said.