Housebuilding and planning approval rates fall short during Johnson tenure, 2022/9/6
2022-09-06The past two years have seen the lowest percentage of residential planning applications approved since 2008, exclusive data from SearchLand has revealed.
Boris Johnson
Source: Shutterstock / Ilyas Tayfun Salci
As Boris Johnson bows out as Prime Minister today, analysis of the divisive figure’s three-year tenure has illuminated some of his failures and successes.
One of the outgoing Prime Minister’s biggest manifesto pledges saw Johnson commit to the delivery of 300,000 new houses per year in a bid to increase home ownership amid the UK’s housing crisis.
While housebuilding hit a 33-year high in 2019 with 255,000 homes delivered, the total dropped to just 243,000 homes last year and is expected to drop again in 2022.
Material and labour shortages have been given part blame, but SearchLand identified planning permission complications as one of the key figures behind the shortfall.
Meanwhile, data on annual permissions shows that the 67.3% of residential planning applications approved in 2022 and the 69.7% in 2021 is the lowest since 2008 (64.6%).
The average percentage of residential planning applications approved during Johnson’s tenure was 70.1%, compared to 75.4% for David Cameron’s tenure and a high of 78.5% for Tony Blair.
Regionally, the North East (85.1%), Yorkshire (82%) and the North West (81.9%) saw the highest percentage of residential planning applications approved between 2018-2022.
London (59.8%), the East of England (67.3%), and the South East (68%), were the regions that saw the lowest percentage over the same time period.
The highest percentage counties were the City of London (97.2%), Lanarkshire (92.6%) and Fife (92.2%), while Essex (60.1%), Greater London (60.2%) and Bedfordshire (60.9%) saw the lowest.
Hugh Gibbs, co-Founder of SearchLand, commented: “It’s fascinating looking at the role local decision-makers play when it comes to meeting housing delivery targets. Fundamentally, the pipeline begins with the approvals process, meaning if councils are slow or unnecessarily strict, central government will always struggle to reach its delivery goals.
“We believe technology has a huge part to play in speeding housing delivery. If developers can access relevant opportunities more quickly, as well as understand the likelihood of a planning application being approved or rejected, they can truly support government-led housing initiatives.
“If future governments are going to meet housing delivery targets, digitisation is an absolute necessity.”
Source: Property Week
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