England’s new planning reforms

George Osborne’s proposed changes to the planning system will make things easier for developers. But is that a good thing? Simon Wilson reports.

What's changed?

According to the chancellor, George Osborne, needless planning delays cost the economy £3bn a year. England's planning regulations are set out in 1,000 pages of policy and 6,000 pages of notes. The draft policy framework replaces them with 52 pages of guidance to local authorities on where and when to accept applications for new houses, shops, amenities and infrastructure. The reforms are designed to give developers more clarity and certainty over what is likely to be approved and to give more power to local communities under the government's localism' agenda. The new regime affects about 66% of England, the government says: areas designated as green belt, national parks or other similarly protected areas will, it claims, be unaffected.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up

Simon Wilson’s first career was in book publishing, as an economics editor at Routledge, and as a publisher of non-fiction at Random House, specialising in popular business and management books. While there, he published Customers.com, a bestselling classic of the early days of e-commerce, and The Money or Your Life: Reuniting Work and Joy, an inspirational book that helped inspire its publisher towards a post-corporate, portfolio life.   

Since 2001, he has been a writer for MoneyWeek, a financial copywriter, and a long-time contributing editor at The Week. Simon also works as an actor and corporate trainer; current and past clients include investment banks, the Bank of England, the UK government, several Magic Circle law firms and all of the Big Four accountancy firms. He has a degree in languages (German and Spanish) and social and political sciences from the University of Cambridge.