Making a bad situation worse

The proposed changes to the NPPF will have a significant impact on house building. The Government accompanied its launch of the consultation in December with the statement that:

The Government contends that the proposals will support housebuilding because it will encourage local plans to be prepared. However, this analysis by Lichfields for the HBF and LPDF finds that the policy proposals on their own could suppress the rate of net additional homes to just 156k per annum. Even before one factors in issues like the economic downturn or water and nutrient neutrality barriers to house building, this would mean building around half of the Government’s assessment of minimum housing need and 77k less than recent rates of delivery.