Four years ago when the NPPF was being mooted many of us warned

-It would lead to less housing being allocated in local plans

-The government would need to set firm rules for SHMAs and allocation of OAN

-The DTC would be no substitute for strategic planning

-The abolition of strategic planning would be a disaster

-It would take years for cooperative arrangements for joint working and agreement of housing overspill to work through.

John Rhodes of course poo pooed all of these.  Now in his Local Plan Experts Group Report he admits all of this was true.  Expert at what screwing up planning and now realising that you have failed spectacularly?

Im no fan of the Chancellors previously unfocussed let them build where they like approach to planning reform – which clearly failed to produce the number needed.  So the gradual shift towards a zoning based system – signalled in last years housing act – is full steam ahead in the Budget.

more streamlined planning system
Budget 2016 therefore announces:

– the government’s intention to move to a more zonal and ‘red line’ planning approach, where local authorities use their local plans to signal their development strategy from the outset and make maximum use of permission in principle, to give early certainty and reduce the number of stages developers must go through to get planning permission
– measures to speed up the planning system, including minimising the delays caused by planning conditions, and ensuring the delivery of local plans by 2017

-Garden towns, cities, and villages
– The government supports the construction of a…