NHC joins Housing Minister and Business Secretary for discussion on planning reform

Our Chief Executive Tracy joined a roundtable discussion on reforms to the planning system with Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds MP and the Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook.

Tracy emphasised that the North is open for business, highly collaborative, and ready to help the government achieve its growth missions – including building 1.5 million homes. She also stressed the importance of a new Affordable Homes Programme being bigger to deliver on the government’s new homes target and structured in in a way that delivers maximum benefits to northern communities. This includes provision for regeneration to tackle housing quality alongside homelessness, and devolution of funding so it can be targeted where it’s needed most.

In December, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) published a revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) having consulted on reforms to the planning system earlier in the year. You can read our response to the consultation here.

The government ministers also confirmed that the Planning and Infrastructure Bill would be introduced in the coming weeks.

Long Term Plan for Housing Roundtable

Our Executive Director of Policy and Public Affairs Patrick Murray attended a roundtable hosted by the National Housing Federation and Chaired by senior MHCLG civil servants, to discuss the Long Term Plan for Housing.

Patrick highlighted that devolution is a real opportunity to deliver on housing ambitions and that the North is ready to work collaboratively to ramp up delivery. He also said that housing-led regeneration should be central to the Long Term Plan for Housing, and that funding should be made available to support this.