Is our planning system on the brink of collapse?
Our planning system is currently
struggling with a very human problem – burnout – which is causing a headache
for many planning departments, stifling investment and removing local knowledge
from local planning decisions.
As the country’s planning backlog continues to grow at a local and national
level, councils are warning of a staffing crisis, while PINs union members
are going on strike due to pay. UK planning departments across
the country are finding it difficult to recruit and retain staff, as reports
grow of planning experts leaving the public sector for the private for better
pay and working conditions.
Without meaningful investment and cultural reform, the economy and our local
communities will be hit hard. As we continue to manage the ongoing energy,
housing affordability and cost-of-living crises, we need an efficient planning
system to ensure we can give local business certainty, and deliver new homes
and green energy projects across the country. However, the manpower behind our
planning system is reportedly under-resourced, underpaid and increasingly
unmotivated.
Bristol City
Council argues that its economy is being severely affected because its
planning department has ‘effectively ground to a halt.’ Local businesses,
charities and residents are having to wait for more than four months before
they are assigned a planning officer, which the Mayor of Bristol says is an
unseen consequence of more than a decade of Government cuts. One well-known
Bristol charity has warned it will start losing £5,000 a month on a new shop it
was unable to open because its planning application is still waiting to be
determined; showing the dire consequences this is having on our already
struggling local high streets.
“Demoralising”, “miserable”, and “depressing” are just some of the words
planning officers have confidentially used to describe working in planning
departments on the podcast 50 Shades
of Planning. As more and more planning experts leave local authorities, councils
are being forced to hire contractors to help deal with their growing
application backlog. This is leaving
planning decisions in the hands of people who aren’t familiar with the local
area and in some cases haven’t even visited the site. As this becomes a
more frequent occurrence, local knowledge is becoming almost totally removed
from local planning decisions, which could lead to poor planning outcomes for
the community.
At a national level, Planning Inspectorate union members have voted to hold a
series of strikes next month, with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and
Communities staff also expected to follow suit. While we do not know the extent
of the disruption planned, we can expect this to lead to substantial
determination delays for major infrastructure projects, new renewable energy
proposals and more.
The UK Government has previously focused on “red-tape” cutting reforms to speed
up the planning system, however, this latest skills shortage and morale crisis
will be difficult to tackle without meaningful investment and cultural reform
at a local and national level.