The version of PPG3 that the government aims to bring in will delay the planning process and wreck attempts to accelerate housebuilding, say respondents to the guidance.

The CBI, the Planning and Development Association, the Planning Officers Society and the London Government Association all made comments along these lines in responses submitted to the ODPM before the close of the consultation period last Friday.

The draft revision of PPG3 gives local authorities greater influence over the social mix of housing that developers can build in order to generate mixed communities and ensure market demand is met. The respondents also warned that the ODPM’s plan for local authorities to carry out “housing assessments”, so that they gauge demand, rather than the market, could have serious disadvantages.

The Planning and Development Association said: “This revision to PPG3 will delay and complicate plan making and inhibit the very necessary increases in housebuilding sought by the government.”

In a joint submission, the Planning Officers Society and the Local Government Association said: “There is a serious risk that the detail yet to emerge in the proposed local housing assessment guidance may at best confuse and at worst significantly delay the roll out of local development frameworks.”

The criticism follows the House Builders Federation’s attempt in its own response to strike a deal with the ODPM, which would give housebuilders smoother planning progress in return for accepting greater control from councils (Building, 15 April, page 22).

  • Two thirds of people are concerned at the consequences of government policy to build higher density housing on brownfield land, according to a YouGov poll into homebuyer attitudes carried out for the House Builders Federation.

People also thought homes were becoming less affordable.