Quarter of A Million Homes Cut From Council Plans

English councils are planning to build 273,000 fewer homes since the coalition government’s abolition of regional planning which allowed authorities to ignore Labour’s top-down housing targets.  According to a report by the Policy Exchange there are 272,720 fewer homes in the planning system today than before the revocation of regional spatial strategies (RSS) in June 2010.  The report, called Planning for Less, finds that despite government assertions to the contrary, the decline in council plans for new homes will ultimately result in fewer homes being built. It says the decision to abolish RSS could contribute to the coalition presiding over the lowest peacetime level of housebuilding since the twenties, and that housebuilding levels will continue to fall unless significant changes to the planning system are made.  Download a copy of the report from the Policy Exchange website.