Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 15
15
Accepted
Paragraph: 67
Encourage neighbouring local authorities to cooperate on housing delivery across shared borders
Recommendation
The Government plans to abolish the Duty to Cooperate without clearly setting out what it will be replaced with. This is despite the Government having agreed with our recommendation in a previous report that the Duty to Cooperate should not be abolished without a clear understanding of how it will be replaced with a new mechanism. By abolishing the Duty to Cooperate, the Government is removing another incentive for local authorities to meet their local housing need. The Government should instead be encouraging neighbouring local authorities to cooperate on housing delivery, particularly when planning development on their shared borders.
Government Response Summary
The government clarifies that cooperation between local planning authorities will remain, stating it intends to retain joint local plans and introduce new joint spatial development strategies. It confirms that existing legal duties, including the duty to cooperate, will still apply, thereby addressing the committee's concern and outlining how cooperation will be encouraged.
Paragraph Reference:
67
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
As part of the Changes to the current planning system1 consultation (August 2020) we stated that the standard method for local housing need at the time was inconsistent with our aim to deliver 300,000 homes annually. After carefully considering the feedback to the consultation, we made changes to the standard method to help enable the Government’s objectives of delivering 300,000 homes a year and to tackle affordability challenges in the places people most want to live, while also directing growth to support the regeneration of brownfield sites and renewing and levelling up our towns and cities. The cities and urban centres uplift directs more homes into our largest urban centres located across the country which supports our aims to level up. 14 of the 20 areas uplifted are in the North and Midlands. As well as making the most of brownfield land, increasing home-building in existing urban areas supports other objectives including maximising the use of existing infrastructure, taking advantage of structural change in urban land uses, and reducing the need for unnecessary travel. As set out in the December 2022 consultation we want to make sure the standard method commands long-term support based on the most relevant data. We intend to review the approach to assessing housing needs following the release of the next household projections data based on the 2021 Census. Co-operation between local planning authorities will remain an aspect of plan making. To address cross boundary and strategic issues that affect more than one planning authority and to encourage closer working together, we intend to retain joint local plans and minerals and waste plans and introduce new joint spatial development strategies and joint supplementary plans. We are proposing that plan-makers have until 30 June 2025 to submit their local plans and all existing legal duties and requirements, including the duty to cooperate, will still apply.