A housing lobby group has warned the government that its proposal to use private sector demand as the main criterion for granting planning permission will fail to meet housing demand and will undermine urban regeneration efforts.

The Blueprint Group, which includes the Chartered Institute of Housing, the Local Government Association, Shelter and the Royal Town Planning Institute, has published a joint response to the consultation document Planning for Housing Provision.

The response says the proposals to remove councils’ power to decide when to release sites to developers according to housing need will “damage the ability of planning bodies to deliver urban renewal and regeneration”.

It says: “Market signals should be a consideration when planning housing supply, but market signals that focus exclusively on house prices must not dominate decisions about the amount of housing to be built in different areas”’

Market signals must not dominate decisions about housing

Blueprint Group

The statement follows the publication by homelessness campaign Shelter of figures that an extra 60,000 social rented homes are required each year over the next three years.