Housing Minister Yvette Cooper has set out reforms to the planning system which will help local authorities deliver more and better homes - including more affordable and family homes.

Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing (PPS3) will tackle obstacles in the current planning system which means that not enough suitable sites are available to deliver the homes families and local people need. Councils will need to plan their housing strategies much further ahead and identify suitable sites more quickly to prevent much-needed houses being held up by unnecessary delays in the planning system.

The new National Brownfield Strategy, which was also published for consultation today, will help local councils bring forward more brownfield land for development.

Local authorities will need to make sure they are getting the mix of homes right and meeting the needs of all of their community. Specifically, councils will need to ensure there are enough family homes and, for the first time, ensure that the housing needs of children are being met, with an emphasis being placed on family-friendly developments including access to gardens, play areas and parks.

New developments will have to take account of the need to cut carbon emissions and to move towards zero carbon development, with higher standards for housing and planning to be set out shortly in the new Planning Policy Statement on Climate Change and the revised Code for Sustainable Homes.

Yvette Cooper said: “We need to build more and better quality homes for the next generation. If we don’t deliver more homes, we will see growing pressures on first time buyers, overcrowding and social housing waiting lists. But we also need higher quality homes and neighbourhoods too. That means better design but also higher environmental standards to help cut carbon emissions.

The new planning rules will support more homes for families. Bad housing for children can haunt them for the rest of their lives, which is why it is so important to ensure there are enough family homes, with gardens, play areas and parks. In London, for example, four out of five new homes are one and two bedroom flats. Whilst we need more new homes for first time buyers and single households, we need to insist on more family homes.”

Government research found that if we do not build more homes, then the proportion of thirty-year-old couples able to afford their own home will fall from over 50 per cent today to nearer 30 per cent in twenty years’ time.

Forty-five towns and cities have come forward to propose significant increases in new homes and jobs - in addition to the existing growth areas such as the Thames Gateway. These planning changes aim to support those areas to deliver the additional homes we need, whilst raising standards at the same time.

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The key policies outlined are:- Local authorities will need to identify more appropriate sites for housing. Councils need to plan 15 years ahead in order to prevent much needed new homes being held up by unnecessary delays in the planning process;
- Stronger emphasis on improving the quality of design of housing and neighbourhoods. PPS3 makes it clear that local authorities should turn down poor quality applications;
- Stronger environmental standards. Developers and planning bodies will have to take account of the need to cut carbon emissions as well as wider environmental and sustainability considerations when siting and designing new homes. The forthcoming Planning Policy Statement on climate change and the new Code for Sustainable Homes will set out further details including plans to move towards zero carbon development;
- A continuing focus on brownfield land, with local authorities setting their own local targets to reflect available sites and support the national target, with safeguards to ensure brownfield land is prioritised. They will also need to take stronger action to bring more brownfield land back into use, supported by the new National Brownfield Strategy led by English Partnerships;
- More flexibility for local authorities to determine how and where new homes should be built in their area, alongside greater responsibility to ensure the homes are built; and
- Stronger policies on affordable housing, especially in rural areas.