Council leaders have hit back at a claim that local planning systems are preventing tens of thousands of homes being built each year.
The Home Builders Federation said the planning system is ‘the worst it has been for decades’.
Problems include a ‘quasi-ban on building homes around national parks’, nutrient and water neutrality rules, and new planning policy changes that make local authorities’ housebuilding targets advisory rather than mandatory.
But the Local Government Association (LGA) said councils wanted to get on with building homes, with land for more than 2.6 million homes allocated in local plans and nine in 10 planning applications being approved.
However, it said councils must be given the powers needed to incentivise developers to build, and claimed there were ‘some resource concerns’ in local authority planning teams.
The federation said planning policy changes would mean 77,000 fewer homes being built each year, with the total number in the UK falling to half of last year’s total of 233,000.
An LGA spokesperson said: ‘Councils have great ambition to get on with building homes, with land for more than 2.6 million homes allocated in local plans and nine in 10 planning applications being approved.
‘But the right powers must be provided to incentivise developers to get building, including being able to charge full council tax for every unbuilt development from the point the original planning permission expires.
‘We recognise there are some resource concerns in council planning teams.
‘While the Government is seeking to address this, more must be done to future-proof the sector and ensure planning departments can continue to enable the delivery of housing targets including the affordable homes and infrastructure that the country needs.’
