黑洞社区

The operation of the English planning system has hit its 鈥渓owest point鈥� for years and is constraining housebuilders鈥� ability to open sites, according to Redrow.

The firm said planning delays caused by a lack of local authority resources was one of several factors which saw it deliver lower completions for the first half of its financial year.

The housebuilder made the comments as it announced results for the six months to 2 January, showing record turnover of 拢1.05bn, up 1% on the prior year, despite the planning constraints.

The firm reported a pre-tax profit of 拢203m, up 17%, with house price inflation exceeding build cost inflation, which is now predicted to rise to 6% over the financial year. A rise of 8% in average private sale prices made up for a decline in completions.

Redrow said it now expected turnover to rise to as much as 拢2.4bn by 2024, compared to previous expectations of 拢2.2bn turnover.

But chief executive Matthew Pratt said it was 鈥渃lear the planning system is now at its lowest point for a number of years鈥�.

He said this was due to resourcing issues at local authorities, that had seen 鈥渁 number of in-house planning officers choosing to leave and join the private sector鈥�, and which was 鈥渃ompounding the ongoing issues caused by a bureaucratic and unacceptably slow system鈥�.

> Also read: Is working from home causing a planning gridlock?

Redrow has long campaigned for planning reform, arguing the system holds back the growth of the industry, but these comments come amid growing concern that the system is in crisis in the wake of a decade of austerity and the extra burden of pandemic working.

Official figures released before Christmas showed the speed of decision-making by local authorities has fallen to its lowest level for five years, while a recent House of Lords committee diagnosed an 鈥渆volving crisis鈥� in council planning teams.

Redrow鈥檚 said its private sale home completions fell by 6% to 2,290 homes, a fall it blamed in part on 鈥渙utlet constraints in some areas of the country due to very high demand and planning delays鈥�.

Pratt said: 鈥淲hile we can manage these issues, it is a particularly challenging barrier for small and medium sized housebuilders to overcome,鈥� he said. 鈥淭herefore, we would repeat our call for Government to address these crucial planning problems.鈥�

Pratt鈥檚 comments come after Barratt chief executive David Thomas yesterday told 黑洞社区鈥檚 sister title Housing Today that 鈥渓ocal authorities and planning departments have been massively challenged by the pandemic鈥�, and that the business was coping simply by building in sufficient lead times for sites to flow through the system. 鈥淵ou have to just assume things are going to take longer than they should,鈥� he added.

Redrow鈥檚 results saw the firm allocate a further 拢26m to fire safety improvement works, taking its total provision to 拢36m. It added that this figure will be reassessed in the light of negotiations with the government over its call for housebuilders to contribute 拢4bn to repairing mid-rise homes affected by fire safety problems.

Last week housing secretary Michael Gove threatened to stop housebuilders from trading if they didn鈥檛 sign up to a voluntary agreement to contribute the cash. Housebuilders have responded by taking advice to assess the legality of this threat.

The firm said: 鈥淲e do believe the whole industry should play its part in tackling the cladding issue but in a fair and proportionate way. Alongside the Home Builders Federation, we will continue to try and work with Government to find answers to these issues, whilst trying to help meet this country鈥檚 chronic housing shortage.鈥�