Housing is not just about numbers - ADEPT's response to NAO's Planning for New Homes report
Peter Geraghty, Chair of ADEPT’s Housing, Planning and Regeneration Board said: “ADEPT fully supports the government’s aspiration to deliver housing. Only around 183,000 new homes were added in 2016/17 despite local authorities approving more than 321,000. However, it is not just about numbers. As contributors to the NAO research, we very much welcome the focus on ensuring that planning departments are properly resourced. The capacity and skills shortage in the planning profession has to be urgently addressed if Government is to achieve its aims.
"For ADEPT, the planning and delivery of infrastructure (including utilities) is too fragmented. There is a burden placed on local authorities to provide evidence on viability and deliverability issues with no similar expectation on other agencies, utility companies or developers. We welcome the report’s findings that developments need to fairly and proportionately contribute to infrastructure. Housing delivery should be about enabling the provision of high quality sustainable communities with the necessary infrastructure in place that provide for growth – including transport, digital, water and energy - and protect and enhance both historic and natural environments.
“Fundamentally, the best way to achieve this is to take a strategic approach to planning and infrastructure that gets the balance right between social, economic and environmental objectives, to create vibrant well-designed places for all. In short, to provide places that people want to live in, work and visit."