Boris U-TURN – New Planning Reforms ditched!

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 30/09/2021 - 18:09
Do you develop yourself?

Are you a commercial building owner looking to repurpose or do you own a portfolio of your own?

Love your thinking clearly not a property newbie

Reply to the comment left by Andrew at 01/10/2021 - 13:19
I am a small landlord. I'm not a plumber, electrician or carpenter myself but run a small business and have a small, separate buy-to-let portfolio. So I am very much like the majority of landlords. Some of the electricians, carpenters and plumbers who work on my portfolio own their own buy-to-lets. This is not surprising because many people of my generation got stung by independent financial advisers and no longer trust the pensions industry.

I have often wondered why we have no VAT on new build and not on renovations; I assume this is because the construction industry is a more effective lobby than the small builder.

I have often wondered why it has been so difficult to access grants to improve your EPC; I assume it is because the cavity wall insulation industry has been the most effective lobby in this area in the past.

And I have often wondered why you are really not allowed to invest your SIPP or SSAS in private residential property; I have in the past heard that it was to stop "another housing boom". But I suspect the real reason is that the financial services industry is a more effective lobby and wants you to be obliged to give them your pension so they can keep on churning it over and levying charges on you.

But I suspect the greater good would be best served by allowing small pension owners to invest their pensions in converting their property portfolios to use renewable energy.

And allowing developers a VAT-free ticket to tear up greenfield sites rather than repurpose existing housing stock is of course a very long way from being "sustainable" given that we know that revitalising our soils is a good way to lock up carbon.

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 01/10/2021 - 14:25
Great response - and comes back to the article we are commenting on. The proposed planning reforms were dreadful, pleasing large developers but ignoring major issues that need addressing if people are to be housed adequately. I hope that public pressure will cause a sensible realistic rethink.

Just glad to see the back of Mr Jenrick??

Just out of interest the top three donors to the current ruling party are involved with property in some way. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58721596. Quite interesting that Boris is willing to antagonise them.

Reply to the comment left by M&SFAN at 03/10/2021 - 09:59
Thats interesting research. I am sure they will have a conversation in his ear quietly to appeal to his funding retnetion

Reply to the comment left by Blodwyn at 02/10/2021 - 13:44
There was alot of good with the permitted developments he implemented, the planing reforms were radical and certainly marmite

I think his planning reforms were the curate's egg. Developing brownfield sites and converting redundant office blocks into housing is a good thing.
However, anybody who has had any direct experience of this will know that what happens if you live in a nice area, the sort of area that might vote, conservative, liberal democrat or 'old new labour' if you know what I mean is that you have your eyes opened by a feeding frenzy of developers.
What happens is that your local plan or local policy will say that developments near you should be of a particular scale and type. The developers put their application in. Sometimes it is difficult to reconcile their planning application documents with the facts. Even if you organise yourself as a community to oppose the development the development will be sent off to the planning inspectorate and your objections will be overturned. The vogon destructor ship moves on, relentless, unstoppable because councils have local housing targets to meet; and because developer's have almost unlimited time and resources; and as a local community you have very little of either; the developers don't even have to pay VAT when they rip up that field, wood, or allotment near you because there is no VAT to pay on new build.
Coming soon to an orchard, field or wood near you...the bulldozers. And somewhere that really ought to be called JCB View or Excavator Close will end up being called Woodview Close. What will be built there on top of the soil that had the potential to lock up carbon will be a bunch of generic looking new houses that burn gas in a gas condensing boiler, don't have photovoltaic tiles or panels, ground source heat pumps, air source heat pumps, biomass boilers or Micro CHP systems.
And in just the same way that David Cameron tried to persuade the electorate in June 2016 that staying in the European Union was a wonderful thing only to find the electorate say "dunno", the electorate is looking at the feeding frenzy going on and may well say to Mr. Johnson at the next election "dunno".
Who knows, maybe somebody had a word in his ear and went "...dunno boss."

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 04/10/2021 - 17:10
Agreed - I think more effort should be made to work on brownfield sites and incentives given

New build is not good from an environmental point of view.

Objecting to plans most people get very wrong - you have to look at what the rules state and pick where the scheme does not meet planning rules

I know that you have to look at what the rules state and pick where the scheme does not planning rules; the developers know the rules and mostly, you don't. Even if you have some knowledge of the rules their advisers know all the loopholes, the grey areas and how to get around them.

And even if the scheme does not meet local policies, or conform to your local community plan you object and the development is overturned by the planning inspectorate.

I was chatting about this to a planning consultant last year and he said to me "...it's not the process that is wrong. The councils don't have enough planning officers and even if they do, the developers' advisers know the rules better than the council planners do." The council planning officers don't have enough time and they don't have the expertise. And as a community you have no power. I commented on one development and on how I could not see how it was being approved and his answer was "...I'm guessing that someone got paid [sic]..but that doesn't mean the process is wrong."