New strategies advised for planning system

House builders facing up to land supply problems should consider other issues as well as questions surrounding the planning system, a new report has advised.

A study from the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has attempted to address supply issues in the light of RTPI figures revealing that the UK's leading builders have access to almost 14,000 acres of land on which they can construct as many as 225,000 properties.

The report also suggests that builders should openly declare the amount of land they control with planning permission so that land allocations and availability issues can be more accurately addressed.

"If we are to tackle the affordable housing crisis we need to move away from overly-simplistic views of demand and supply and look as well at the other factors that contribute to the crisis," advised RTPI director of policy and research Kelvin MacDonald.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell has suggested this week that encouraging councils to buy land from farmers and then sell it on to developers for a profit could be one way of easing the crisis in low-cost housing.


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