The plan to relax planning rules follows the Government\u2019s assertion that they will meet the target of building one million homes between 2019-24, despite a recent report from the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee stating that the government would not deliver<\/a> 300,000 net new homes per year by the mid-2020s.<\/p>\n Prime minister Rishi Sunak reiterated over the weekend that the government would deliver the much-needed housing and housing secretary Micahel Gove added to this in his speech on Monday(24 July 2023), where he outlined the scheme.<\/p>\n In a statement released ahead of his speech, the Housing Secretary said: \u201cMost people agree that we need to build more homes \u2014 the question is how we go about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Citing regeneration in east London in the 1980s by the Docklands Development Corporation, the housing secretary said his plans would kick-start a \u201c21st century renaissance for our great cities\u201d.<\/p>\n The proposals included:<\/p>\n Councillor Shaun Davies, chairman of the LGA, said: “Premises such as offices, barns and shops are not always suitable for housing.<\/p>\n “Further expanding permitted development rights risks creating poor quality residential environments that negatively impact people’s health and wellbeing, as well as a lack of affordable housing or suitable infrastructure<\/a>.<\/p>\n “It is disappointing that the Government have ignored their own commissioned research that concluded that homes converted through a planning application process deliver higher quality homes than those converted via permitted development rights.”<\/p>\n Gove also announced that he was appointing Peter Freeman, chair of Homes England, to lead a \u201cCambridge delivery group\u201d, aiming to build on the strong research and innovation market in the area by providing housing for more professionals.<\/p>\n But local responses have ranged from angry to vehemently angry.<\/p>\n Cambridgeshire County Council leader, Cllr Lucy Nethsingha said she was \u201cdeeply angry and frustrated\u201d, and Conservative MP for South Cambridgeshire Anthony Browne condemned the plans in light of the fact that natural resources in Cambridge were already overstretched.<\/p>\n I will do everything I can to stop the Government\u2019s nonsense plans to impose mass housebuilding on Cambridge, where all major developments are now blocked by the Environment Agency because we have quite literally run out of water. Our streams, rivers and ponds already run dry.<\/p>\n — Anthony Browne MP (@AnthonyBrowneMP) July 24, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\nRelaxing planning rules is intended to speed up the housebuilding process<\/h3>\n
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Questions have been raised about the standard of conversions<\/h3>\n
The first of these projects, a new \u201curban quarter\u201d in Cambridge, has already met with criticism<\/h3>\n
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