Planning matters blog

Cameron House Hotel and Resort – investing and evolving to remain a premier 5-star destination

Jade Scott-Meikle 27 Sept 2022

I’m often asked what my most interesting, or favourite project during my 7 years at Lichfields has been. It’s a difficult question to answer. Due to the very nature of our business and indeed the make-up of our Edinburgh office, I’ve worked on a wide variety of projects – from signage applications for Hampden Stadium that needed to be in place by the Cup Final, all the way up to large mixed-use developments like Elements Edinburgh at Edinburgh Airport. My mind does however more often than not revert back to my time working on a number of projects at Cameron House Hotel.

Lichfields' involvement in the Cameron House estate extends long prior to my joining the company, and a review of our work to date serves as a good indication of the varying needs, in planning terms, of the evolution of a 5 star hotel throughout changing markets. As construction on one of our most recent planning permissions nears completion, this blog is an opportunity to reflect on those projects and the lessons learned.

For those who may not be as familiar, Cameron House is a 5-star luxury resort comprising hotel, marina, golf course and lodge park. The resort is located on the banks of Loch Lomond, to the north of the town of Balloch, within the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.

Cameron House itself is a Category ‘B’ listed building and is comprised of a mansion house mostly dating from two phases of development: 1812-4 and 1866-7, though excavation work in 2017 revealed surviving fabric of an earlier building (which likely dates back to the 1600s).

For three centuries Cameron House belonged to the Smollett family who over that time are said to have hosted a number of dignitaries - James Boswell and Samuel Johnson, Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony Eden as well as Princess Margaret and Empress Eugenie of France.

The Smollett family sold the house in 1985 and it was converted into a hotel in 1986. It has been subject to a great deal of investment since then to make it the 5-star resort it has become - a number of extensions, including a modern leisure wing in 1989, an eastern accommodation wing in 2006 and a gin terrace in 2016 prior to the most recent extension, just complete, to provide a new ballroom and additional bedrooms. Like its time as a private house, the property has continued to host and be popular with dignitaries, politicians and celebrities looking for a luxury place to stay not too far from Glasgow.

Lichfields involvement in Cameron House commenced not long after the construction of the accommodation wing, initially in the form of supporting evidence to accompany architect-led development proposals within the estate in 2008. Shortly thereafter, we carried out due diligence work in advance of a prospective sale, reviewing development that had taken place on the estate and comparing it against planning permissions and listed building consents relating to the site. Exercises such as these are essential in establishing the degree of risk associated with the purchase of an established and going concern such as a hotel resort. Lichfields carries out tasks such as this on behalf of many clients, and although, more often than not, it is behind-the-scenes and low-profile work, it can form a key component to any transfer of asset between parties.

My own role commenced in 2015, in relation to minor works to relocate LPG tanks within the historic walled garden at the rear of the hotel. Not all that glamourous I grant you, but plant associated with hotels of this scale, more often than not, have planning implications.

This saw me move on to securing permissions (both planning and Listed Building Consent) for works to extend the late 1980’s leisure wing to incorporate an elevated gin terrace for guests and diners of the Great Scots Bar. I am happy to report the terrace supported its first marriage proposal shortly after it opened.

Early feasibility work into the potential to develop a bedroom and ballroom extension to the hotel followed, but was put on hold when extensive damage was caused to the historic core of Cameron House in December 2017. Lichfields then had an instrumental role in securing the relevant planning permissions and listed building consents to reinstate the building and get the hotel back up and running.

The degree of interaction with the salvage and reclamation, redesign and rebuild of the hotel was complex and extensive. Key to the enabling of these works was a constructive and pragmatic relationship with the Local Planning Authority (LPA), in this case the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority. Officers of the National Park Authority have provided an exemplar planning service in reacting swiftly and with flexibility in response to fast moving circumstances arising from a damaged listed building which required intervention. Interestingly for a planning consultant we were on site working hand in hand with the architects and contractors as the project evolved.

Consents required to facilitate this process have included implementation of a salvage and reclamation strategy through listed building consent to enable emergency demolitions to take place, with regularisation applications post-event. Temporary access proposals saw the upgrade of a historic access to the south of the estate to allow guests to visit those facilities that remained open while construction had exclusive use of the principal access onto the trunk road network. This temporary solution has resulted in legacy benefit through the retention of a newly resurfaced route from Balloch to Cameron House.

While reinstatement work progressed, bedroom and banqueting extension works resumed. Planning permission and listed building consent were sought and approved, in close collaborative work with the LPA. The principal applications were supplemented by an array of other associated applications including:

Amendment of a historic legal agreement to update a Land Management Plan which will see the appropriate management of the historic estate into the future;
Permission to establish and implement a lighting management plan;
Advertisement consents in and around the estate;
Installation of extensive plant within the estate;
Refinishing existing and retained hotel components; and
Multiple variations requiring NMVs and discrete stand-alone Listed Building Consents.

Our work on this estate over some 14 years demonstrates the planning needs of a 5-star luxury hotel in a historic setting that needs to invest and change to remain at the top of the game. It is a testament to the work of the owners that the hotel has evolved to meet the changing aspirations of its customer base and the diligent work of the National Park Authority to effectively regulate this evolution.

The Cameron House of today is a luxury five-star resort. It boasts a magnificent new grand foyer, library, and a brand-new Lobby Bar serving the finest champagnes, cocktails and afternoon teas. Today the Cameron House Hotel offers 140 guest bedrooms, including 24 luxury suites, a completely remodelled Cameron Leisure Club and The Tavern Bar. The wider Cameron House Resort is also home to an award-winning spa complete with a rooftop infinity pool, an 18-hole championship golf course, and a 234-berth marina. Guests can enjoy an array of water activities along the banks of Loch Lomond, including adrenaline-fueled speed boat and jet-skiing trips, kayaking and katakanu excursions, as well as peaceful paddle boarding, fresh-water fishing, or opulent champagne cruises onboard the impressive Celtic Warrior. Visitors can enjoy unparalleled views through scenic bike hire trails, falconry experiences, pony treks, clay pigeon shooting, 4x4 off-road driving adventures, segway safaris, as well as a list of picturesque walks and hikes curated by the hotel’s leisure and events team.

It has been a pleasure to have played a small part in the history of Cameron House, ensuring this beautiful hotel resort remains one of Scotland’s premier tourism destinations.

Growth Plan 2022: new government heralds new agenda to promote growth, and new planning reform proposals

Jennie Baker & Sean Farrissey 23 Sept 2022

Updated 24 September, following a further Government publication

At the end of a week of much speculation about the future or otherwise of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill (aka Not the Planning Bill), a new Planning and Infrastructure Bill was announced.

The Government also confirmed that it is in discussion with nearly 40 authorities regarding the creation of new Investment Zones, which “will provide time-limited tax reliefs, and planning liberalisation to support employment, investment, and home ownership”.

These announcements came within and alongside the Government’s Growth Plan 2022, which was presented by the Chancellor and published on 23 September.

The Plan is built around the Government’s aim of achieving an annual average growth rate of 2.5%. As part of its mission to cut taxes, streamline the public sector, and liberate the private sector the Government plans to get the housing market moving and to cut ‘red tape’. It also plans to “accelerate the construction of vital infrastructure projects by liberalising the planning system and streamlining consultation and approval requirements”.

Planning and Infrastructure Bill

The Chancellor noted in his speech that the time taken for Development Consent Order decisions to be made is getting longer. The Government consider that, “Delays are partly a result of a complex patchwork of environmental and regulatory rules, some of which are retained EU law. The government wants to reform and streamline these arrangements to promote growth whilst ensuring environmental outcomes are protected”.

According to the Growth Plan, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill is to provide legislation intended to accelerate priority major infrastructure projects across England, including by:

“minimising the burden of environmental assessments;
making consultation requirements more proportionate;
reforming habitats and species regulation; and
increasing flexibility to make changes to a Development Consent Order once it has been submitted”.

The Plan observes that the proposed reforms build on changes already underway, including new powers to enable fast track consenting for some projects and faster post-consent changes.

Indeed, new primary and secondary legislation for environmental assessments and habitats and species regulation has been long anticipated in a post-Brexit world – and the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill (LURB) does make provision for a new environmental assessment process.

If changes to environmental assessments are to be made via this newly-announced primary legislation, does this suggest that it is the Environmental Outcomes Reports proposals in the LURB that could fall away or be amended? Albeit the Environmental Outcomes Reports are proposed for the whole of the UK, whereas the Planning and Infrastructure Bill appears to be for England only.

And regarding the future of the LURB, recent Written Answers by junior Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities ministers refer to the ongoing future of that Bill.

The day before the Growth Plan was published, Lee Rowley MP said in response to a question about giving residents greater input on local developments:

“The Government has brought forward a Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill which currently contains proposals to allow communities to understand proposals more easily through making planning more digital and through simplifying the plan-making process. The Bill also currently contains a placeholder clause for ‘street votes’ to give residents a direct way to make their views known on certain proposals. The Bill will continue to be considered by Parliament in the coming months ahead.”

Related to the above, the proposal to make consultation requirements “more proportionate” appears to mean for infrastructure projects, rather than necessarily for all planning applications. Notwithstanding, it is a fairly big shift to a narrative of growth and progress and away from the seemingly core objective of planning reform being higher levels of community engagement, which we have been accustomed to hearing.

Other announcements related to the Bill’s proposals to speed up infrastructure delivery include a non-exhaustive list of infrastructure projects that will be accelerated, with the aim of construction starting on all those projects by the end of 2023. This includes 86 road projects, sixteen local transport projects, ten rail projects, 21 energy projects and two decarbonisation funds.

The Growth Plan 2022 also announced that the Government will be:

“bringing onshore wind planning policy in line with other infrastructure to allow it to be deployed more easily in England”.

Albeit the Government also said via a Written Answer of 23 September that the position regarding onshore wind remains unchanged for now.

The Plan also proposes reforms to accelerate roads delivery, including by consenting more through the Highways Act 1980.

And there is a reference to “altering the system for Judicial Reviews so that lengthy claims can be avoided”, which follows recent reviews and proposed legislation in this regard (see Simonicity).

Investment Zones

The Chancellor has announced that the Government is already in discussion with 38 local and mayoral combined authority areas in England to set up Investment Zones, but also indicated that these represent the “areas keen to be involved now, with more to come”. Within these zones growth and development will be accelerated by liberalising the planning process, among other measures.

Investment Zones will be delivered by the government working in partnership with Upper Tier Local Authorities (UTLAs) and Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs). It will be each area's responsibility to promote sites and show the potential economic benefit of development in the area. There has also been further commitment to establishing Freeports and the Government will work with local partners involved in current and prospective Freeports to consider how Investment Zones can benefit them.

Particularly relevant to planning are the proposals for accelerated development:

“There will be designated development sites to deliver growth and housing. Where planning applications are already in flight, they will be streamlined and we will work with sites to understand what specific measures are needed to unlock growth, including disapplying legacy EU red tape where appropriate. Development sites may be co-located with, or separate to, tax sites, depending on what makes most sense for the local economy”.

It is not immediately clear how one lawfully streamlines a planning application that is already “in flight”. The intention might be that this applies to identified sites, rather than currently live planning applications; the Plan also refers to “the streamlined mechanism for securing planning permission” - this may have simply been a turn of phrase, given guidance now published (see below).

The Government is yet to provide detail on the scale of deregulation but noted that they will seek to work with devolved administrations and local partners to introduce Investment Zones across the UK “as quickly as possible”.

The Plan promises that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities will shortly set out more detail on the planning offer.

Accordingly, on 24 September, the Government published guidance on Investment Zones in England, which sets out the in-principle policy offer from the government to all MCAs and UTLAs in England, whether they have been involved in earlier discussions or not.

It says:

"For developments in the early stages of planning, and to encourage new development to come forward, there will be a new faster and more streamlined consent to grant planning permission. This consent will reduce many of the burdensome requirements which has made the planning of large sites slower and more complex than it should be, to enable developers to bring forward good quality development which responds to the market. In particular, we will:

remove burdensome EU requirements which create paperwork and stall development but do not necessarily protect the environment;
focus developer contributions on essential infrastructure requirements;
reduce lengthy consultation with statutory bodies; and
relax key national and local policy requirements.

Key planning policies to ensure developments are well designed, maintain national policy on the Green Belt, protect our heritage, and address flood risk, highway and other public safety matters - along with building regulations - will continue to apply.

For developments which already have permission, we will work with developers and local planning authorities to ensure planning is not a barrier to the accelerated delivery of these sites. All Investment Zones will have a mandate to boost growth; in Zones, the planning system will not stand in the way of investment and development". (Emphasis is in the Guidance).

The Government has identified the 38 authorities it has started discussions with regarding an Investment Zone being designated in their area and has identified the areas it considers to be “illustrative sites that may have the potential to accelerate growth and deliver housing in the way the Investment Zone programme envisage”.

MCA or UTLA-funded development corporations or dedicated delivery vehicles could be established, provided they do not slow down development.

Primary legislation is required in order to enable the offer on tax and simplified regulations.

A fact sheet provides a summary of how Investment Zones are intended to work was published on 23 September.

HM Treasury, Growth Plan 2022

Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities and HM Treasury, Investment Zones in England Guidance

Lichfields Resource on the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill

Tourist Accommodation in Edinburgh: more not less is needed…

Arabella Stewart-Leslie 15 Sept 2022

Edinburgh’s comeback festival season 2022 has injected some much-missed hustle and bustle back into the Scottish capital’s streets, no doubt welcome relief to the local hospitality and retail sectors across the city that have endured a turbulent few years. Drawing eye watering numbers of visitors to the city each year, the cultural bonanza has become an essential component of many businesses in the area whose fortunes hang on the success of this part of the calendar.

Those in the know are predicting that the staycation market will remain strong beyond 2023. This is not surprising given many are still reluctant to travel overseas and that many have had positive experiences of holidaying in the UK over the past couple of years visiting places they had never been before or returning to old haunts. Overseas travellers are also expected to return but perhaps more slowly and business travel is anticipated to reach pre pandemic levels again by 2024.

Hotel occupancy is strong in the city throughout the year, with peaks in the summer, room occupancy rates[1] were over 80% in May – September 2019. With the exception of January and February other months are also relatively strong (room occupancy over 69% in 2019) with the winter festivals, marathons, rugby and concerts, not to mention all the rest the city has to offer, making Edinburgh a year-round tourist draw. The pandemic had a considerable impact on these numbers but figures for April 2022 suggest that room occupancy levels are returning to 2019 levels (74.22%). Figure 1 compares hotel occupancy data from Visit Scotland for Edinburgh and the Lothians in 2019 and 2021.

The most up to date and comprehensive published information on tourist accommodation on Edinburgh is 2019 based. This is a report prepared for the City Council by Ryden and GVA. It sets out that in 2019 there were 167 hotels in Edinburgh providing 13,180 bedrooms, there were 40 serviced apartment buildings providing 1488 apartments. 38% of the hotel rooms were in the 2 star / budget sector, 54% were 3 / 4 star and 8% were 5 star. There are no budget serviced apartments, 28% are upper midscale, 50% are upscale / upper upscale and 22% are luxury class. In 2019 there were 15 hostels with 457 bedrooms, 200 guesthouses / B&Bs with around 1300 bedrooms and there are 35 student halls with rooms available to rent during the summer.

In addition to this there are great number of bed spaces available in Edinburgh that are short term lets, sometimes referred to as Airbnbs. In the quarter to September 2021 there were 4,168 whole properties listed on Airbnb and 1894 single rooms within the Edinburgh City boundary. Airbnb list shared rooms but these are mostly in hostels and some hotel rooms but these are not reported here as they form part of the formal tourist accommodation stock.

Given these findings it is reasonable to assume that in the key summer period the following accommodation is available in Edinburgh:

13,180 Hotel bedrooms
1,488 Serviced Apartments
457 hostel bedrooms
1,300 B&B/Guesthouse bedrooms
4,168 Airbnb whole properties
1,738 Airbnb private bedrooms

Contrary to reports in the press pre pandemic that there were too many hotel bedroom in Edinburgh recent reports in the press suggest that there wasn’t enough reasonably priced accommodation available for festival goers and artists this year and some have said this threatens the future of the Fringe. Hotel rates benchmark against each other but private short term lets can go for huge sums if there is huge demand and this can price many out of the market. Similar, issues arose in Glasgow last year with accommodation for COP26.

Added to this, there were also reports of the soaring homelessness problem in the city and the lack of both temporary accommodation, now that hotels couldn’t be used as they were during the pandemic, and shortages of permanent accommodation given the number of properties used for short term lets.

So, there are 2 wants here (1) more accommodation in August for visitors and (2) more accommodation all year round for residents.

Expected changes to the make up of tourist accommodation in Edinburgh

Hotels, Service Apartments and hostels

There are a number of new hotels in the pipeline. Given current consents and construction activity since 2019 we can be reasonably sure that there will soon be over 16,000 hotel bedrooms in the city. In terms of serviced apartments there are 506 additional bedrooms with planning approval or under construction bring in this to total to nearly 2000 additional bedrooms. There are 2 hostel schemes with a total of 30 bedrooms also approved.

Short term lets

As measures introduced by the Scottish Government to address the short-term let (STL) phenomenon begin to bite and the numbers of STLs in the city can be expected to begin to drop.

The number of Short Term Lets in Edinburgh is well publicised and various data sources are available. The most popular booking platform, Airbnb is the most interrogated but others such as booking.com do play a role. Inside Airbnb is a website that seeks to “add data to the debate”.

The data collected by Inside Airbnb indicates that for the quarter ending September 2021 47% of whole properties listed were listed by a host with more than 1 property. Some of these hosts are agents for individuals but it is fair to assume that these properties are all being let commercially and that these are not family homes being let while people are on holiday. There will be hosts that have only listed 1 property who are also letting commercially. It is difficult to calculate with any great accuracy from the data how many that might be so we have assumed that if you have more than 4 reviews in a quarter you are probably letting that property commercially. There are 1,165 listed whole properties that have had 4 reviews or more suggesting multiple lettings. It is impossible to verify this data and Lichfields do not take any responsibility for its accuracy. It is used here simply to paint a picture of what might be assumed to be going on in the city.

As Lichfields has previously blogged, the requirement for licensing and the STL control area could significantly reduce the number of properties that are available to rent via Airbnb and other platforms.

Edinburgh’s Short Term Let Control Area is now in force. Implemented from 5 September 2022, this control area covers the entirety of the City of Edinburgh Council area. This means that the use of a dwelling as an STL, in certain circumstances, will constitute a material change of use and planning permission will be required. In addition, from September this year, the Scottish Government’s licencing regime will commence, with a requirement for all STL properties to be licensed by July 2024.This will include evidence of planning permission or evidence that it is not required. Licence requirements will apply to all STLs, including homeowners renting out a single room or their whole home for short periods while on holiday.

It is difficult to accurately predict the likely impact of these measures. The Council of course are hoping it is significant and a great number of short term let properties become available for long term residents instead.

Conclusions

In conclusion more accommodation is needed in the city for residents and tourists alike. The hotels are pretty much at capacity during the summer period and there will be less short-term lets in the future. New purpose-built affordable tourist accommodation is needed to replace the short term let stock that will be lost. Hotel developers, operators and investors should start sharpening their pencils.

[1] Hotels - Occupancy Statistics & Surveys | VisitScotland.org

Despite the bulging in-tray, the new Prime Minister needs to support plan making to avoid another decade of housing crises

Edward Clarke 06 Sept 2022

After the ‘longest job interview in history’ the new Prime Minister now takes on, what the BBC describes as the “gargantum task of Governing when millions are confronted by unpayable bills. Governing during a war in Europe and in the aftermath of a pandemic. And governing a party that's already been in power for 12 years.” In the context of the myriad crises, political priorities might lie elsewhere, but housing cannot be ignored.

Recently, in the context of the energy supply crisis ten year old footage of various political leaders writing off investing in nuclear power infrastructure has emerged, declaring a decade ‘too long to wait’ for a stable, functioning energy market given the affordability crisis of the day. It reminded me of the costs of temptation across the political spectrum of grasping quick wins to alleviate demand rather than addressing the long term fundamentals of supply. It might be ‘Unprecedented Times’, but if the last few years of perma-crises have taught us anything, it is that the Government cannot afford to wait for calmer waters tomorrow to take the tough decisions and this is the case for housing and planning.

Looking for clues as to how the Prime Minister might see housing and planning policy is complicated. As the crises mount up, housing is slipping down the priority list. The new Prime Minister has highlighted the primacy of building more homes to ensure home ownership is an option for future generations (of potential Conservative voters) but she has distanced herself from the previous plan for a million homes on London’s green belt.

The Prime Minister has favoured (during the leadership debates) a ‘free market philosophy’ to the housing crisis but housing requires effective planning. Ms Truss also supports local areas’ having more say in where homes are built, but the familiar realities of local planning politics will take hold quickly. The party leadership debates might have seen her appetite soften for planning reform but the political reality is that house prices, productivity, and well being will all suffer if the trajectory of housing supply continues downwards.

Through the Standard Method (denounced as creating Stalinist targets during the debate) local planning authorities are tasked with, assessing, and planning for enough homes to meet their ‘local housing need’. In many areas, the local political incentive is firmly behind building the least amount of homes possible, despite the cost nationally to higher house prices and lower productivity growth. If house building targets which are designed to counter the local political challenges, are removed in favour of an incentive based approach, it will take a colossal shift in the tax system and economic orthodoxy of the country towards something akin to a land value tax with significant local benefits to new building to outweigh the local political costs which currently ‘win out’. If the PM really wants to deliver improved housing outcomes without causing a long hiatus in house building while changes trickle through, and clogging up the legislative agenda and political landscape for the remaining parliament and beyond, other less dramatic improvements can be sought which could help achieve the ‘300,000 homes a year’ manifesto commitment. To address the housing crisis, the Prime Minister can make significant gains by working with the grain.

A reason to be optimistic is that it’s a good time to think about housing and planning policy, with The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill in Commons committee, the PM can drive forward the Bill’s passage. As we have previously covered, the Bill itself is far from its revolutionary roots and now its focus is on tweaking and smoothing the planning system ‘as is’. It will however bring some positive changes.

To achieve some of the bolder changes required to build more homes, the most significant target should be the issues which are stymying and stultifying the local plan system at the moment – this can in part be done through the NPPF prospectus. This policy document will be at least as important for changes to planning and housing than the LURB itself. In this context, several important factors need to be considered.

The plan-led system can be effective in delivering the right amount of homes that are needed in each area, but at the moment it is slowing with local plan making grinding to a halt. The Government needs to be clearer about the expectations for local planning authorities to deliver homes, the standard method was a way of doing this, this is not about supporting ‘Stalinist policies’ or lining ‘greedy developer’s pockets’ (Feeding the Pipeline, Lichfields) but to deliver the homes we need, we must plan for sufficient homes to be built. This means supporting local planning authorities to make the tough local decisions needed to be pro-development and pro-growth, and genuinely disincentivising those authorities which are dragging their feet on the hard decisions. It also means slickening aspects like the duty to cooperate so that areas work together better (something the LURB is helping to support through more devolution).

The Prime Minister also wants to support an increase in home ownership. Lichfields research on the latest census showed around 600,000 households were prevented from forming over the last decade . The Prime Minister is right to say that supporting more of these households to become home owners, or renting a place of their own will dramatically improve their lives, local economies and improve the stability of house prices. The focus must however be on building more homes, rather than the politically appealing short term demand side boosts that cause house price rises in the absence of supportive supply side boosts.

In practice, to build the homes we need, we need to plan for significantly more homes than we do currently and in the absence of sufficient local incentives this needs to be driven nationally. Far from a ‘stalinist approach’ the housing market needs support and policy to be an effective market. Lichfields' research Tracking Progress shows that to deliver the 300,000 homes a year the current manifesto calls for - all being equal we need 520,000 permissions per year need to be granted in the short-tomedium term to build up a bank of permissions - but are currently working with around 370,000.

During the leadership election, Ms Truss distanced herself from previous plans to build on the greenbelt, as Mr Sunak called for ‘gold-plating’ the greenbelt. Clearly much of this politicking was speaking directly to Conservative members, but the practical realities of governing must now prevail. Lichfields' Banking on Brownfield research showed that Brownfield land alone cannot provide the solution, especially in the highest demand, most productive areas. Alongside this, another myth aired throughout the Summer has been that ‘greedy developers’ just need to be incentivised through a ‘use it or lose it’ tax system, our analysis also shows why this neither the solution, or even a significant problem.

We need to do this now. The prospects for the next decade could arguably be worse than the current crisis unless measures are taken to address the planning system. The flow of new planning permissions is starting to decline. Recent data on permissions shows the steady upward trend seen between 2012 and 2018 has halted and in fact the flow of permissions has started to decline. If rates of permissions were sustained at around 372,000 per year there would be a shortfall of almost 293,000 permissions by 2023. This points to the need for an uptick in permissions in the next 1-2 years in order for these homes to be delivered by the mid-2020s. And this is worse for our more productive areas.

The politics of this are unquestionably hard, and with finite political capital and multiple crises to tackle, during the leadership debates both candidates might be forgiven for dodging talking about the most difficult trade offs. However now in post, the Prime Minister must act quickly to deliver on the LURB, and use the NPPF prospectus to project a clear unambiguous focus on ensuring local planning authorities have plans which deliver sufficient permissions to meet their housing needs. If we do not plan for the homes required, we will still be facing the same questions, and stuck in another housing crisis a decade from now.

Image credit: Nick Kane via Unsplash

Planning matters

Cameron House Hotel and Resort – investing and evolving to remain a premier 5-star destination