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Housing secretary Robert Jenrick said the government will look to pilot a 鈥渮onal鈥� approach to planning as part of reforms due in the forthcoming planning white paper.

The suggestion was part of a suite of measures laid out in a parliamentary statement on housing and planning today, billed as a back to 鈥渇irst principles鈥� rethink of the planning, which included commitments to reform planning fees and push ahead with previously trailed expansion of permitted development rights.

Jenrick said the reforms were designed to ensure that everyone had access to affordable, safe, quality housing. He said: 鈥淲e must think boldly and creatively about the planning system to make it fit for the future, and this is just the first step, so we can deliver the homes communities need and help more young people onto the ladder.鈥�

A policy paper, published following Jenrick鈥檚 House of Commons statement, said the government was looking to expand the use of zoning tools , such as Local Development Orders (LDOs), to support development.

LDOs were tools first introduced by Labour in 2004 to give local councils the powers to grant automatic permission for applications in specific designated areas. Jenrick鈥檚 policy paper said it would look to draft templates to help local authorities draw up their own LDOs.

The suggestion of 鈥渮onal鈥� planning pilots comes after the release in January of a Policy Exchange report by the prime minister鈥檚 new housing policy advisor, Jack Airey, which recommended local politicians lose their right to decide individual applications 鈥� instead limiting their powers to simply deciding which areas to 鈥渮one鈥� for development.

Responding to the proposals, Hew Edgar, the RICS鈥� head of  UK government relations & city strategy, said he was pleased ministers had listened to calls for reform of the green belt to allow previously developed land near transport hubs to be used to build new homes.

But Edgar said it was 鈥渂izarre鈥�, given the government鈥檚 commitment to net-zero, that it was proposing to make it easier to demolish existing buildings, rather than retrofitting them with the latest technology. 鈥淚t isn鈥檛 green or sustainable for our planet, something ministers have been repeatedly told,鈥� he added.