Leader

Records show that in November the number of affordable homes being built was at the lowest level since 1949. A month later the number of starts had dropped again (page ox). “The builders are on holiday” was the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s spin on the situation. In the summer they were watching the World Cup and in the autumn they were, according to John Prescott, hoarding land. Dress it up as you will, anyone involved with housebuilding knows what’s really happening: the planning system just doesn’t work.

Local authorities are slavishly interpreting planning guidance and trying to meet their housebuilding targets entirely on brownfield sites. Nimbyism makes the process slow and complicated. So brownfield sites get stuck at the top of the queue, and greenfield sites never come to market or get planning permission denied. If greenfield schemes do jump the queue, the secretary of state wants to know why. Talk about mixed messages. To give him his due, Prescott acknowledged these problems in the Communities Plan and set out measures to unblock the logjam.

The big question, though, is can Prescott deliver? Previous promises to sort out planning come to nothing. The more interventionist approach he sets out, including sending in the Audit Commission to inspect planning departments, sounds tough. But it will need to have plenty of teeth to convince sceptics that local authorities will take their affordable housing obligations more seriously. At the moment planning and housing departments may as well reside on different planets rather than down the corridor.

Dress the statistics up any way you will, it’s clear what’s really happening: planning isn’t working

Prescott should also be wary of urging greater haste in processing planning permission. When it comes to meeting targets, a no is often quicker than a properly considered yes. Another major sticking point is negotiating the minefield of section 106 agreements. The only real guidance here is to encourage housebuilders to open their books – presumably show that they’re not a fat as local authorities think. On a more positive note, the £350m pledged to hire and train more staff should be a godsend. Sending English Partnerships on a land-buying spree should turn the trend around. But these solutions will take time.