In the Autumn Budget today, the government said an additional 350 planners in England would be recruited by expanding the Pathways to Planning Graduate Scheme and creating a new Planning Careers Hub to retain and retrain mid-career professionals.
Announcing this, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “It is this Labour government that has overhauled our planning system, and I will today provide further funding to increase planning capacity through a new skills offer, as called for by the British Chamber of Commerce and the Confederation of British Industry.”
She said the government had “beat forecasts” and championed innovation, focusing on “building homes, getting spades in the ground and cranes in the sky”.
The new funding will also be used to improve the performance and speed of environmental regulators, along with additional resources for priority projects and delivery of the Nature Restoration Fund’s Environmental Delivery Plans.
The government said this would bring recruitment across the planning system to 1,400 by the end of Parliament, enabling faster planning decisions to support the delivery of one-and-a-half million homes.
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In the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR’s) forecast report, it said current planning activity suggested the impact of reforms introduced in March was “yet to materialise” as expected and most of the increase in housebuilding would occur from 2027-28.
It said net additions to the UK housing stock would fall from an average of 260,000 per year in the early 2020s to a low of 215,000 in 2026-27. This would then rise “sharply” to 305,000 in 2029-30 due to planning reforms.
The OBR said residential investment growth would rise from 1% this year to around 7% in 2027 and 2028, as monetary policy loosens and planning reforms take effect. Growth would then level out to 2% by 2030.
