Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 2
2
Accepted
Detail how to ensure local authorities produce up-to-date plans and simplify the planning system.
Conclusion
The number of local planning authorities with an up-to-date local plan has fallen significantly since 2019. As at February 2025, only 86 LPAs–29% of all the LPAs in England–had adopted a local plan in the past five years. By contrast, in February 2019, 149 LPAs had an up-to-date local plan. This Committee has previously reported on the number of local authorities without an up-to-date local plan, which takes on average seven years to produce. Without an up-to-date local plan, LPAs risk not being able to deliver the new homes needed to meet local demand and may not be able to coordinate the appropriate amount of contributions from development. 2 The Department states that it has provided nearly £30 million to LPAs to speed up local plan production ahead of a new local plan system coming into operation in 2026. It expects a much higher number of LPAs to have an up-to-date local plan by the end of this Parliament. The production and revision of local plans is far too complicated, as it requires a great deal of predictive information which is often inaccurate. recommendation In its Treasury Minute response, the Department should provide the Committee with further details of: a. how it will use its statutory powers to ensure that LPAs produce an up-to-date local plan; and b. if it will examine the local plan making system to make it simpler and shorter, drawing up a revised local plan.
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and states it has implemented reforms to the plan-making system, including new legislation for a simpler 30-month timeline for plan preparation and a standardised structure. It also committed £48 million additional investment to strengthen planning capacity, funding 350 new planners.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented In February 2025, the department published the government response to the July 2023 consultation on the implementation of reforms to the plan-making system. On 27 November, the government published more detailed information about the design of the legislation that will underpin the new plan-making system together with a series of vital new resources to help plan-makers prepare. The department also announced how it intends to roll out the changes across the country from early next year. The new plan-making system will make it faster for local authorities to get simple, meaningful plans in place. This will provide local authorities with greater clarity about how local plans should be prepared and supported by evidence and establish a clear 30-month timeline for plans to be prepared and kept up to date. The government will expect all local plans to follow a standardised structure in line with the permissible content defined in legislation and “core content” set out in policy. This will reduce the time taken to prepare plans, provide more consistency and make plans easier for users to navigate. National planning policy and guidance will clarify what evidence is required and when. This will help prevent abortive work and reduce delays. The department is also taking a digitally-led approach to support plan-making and the streamlining of evidence gathering, including the development of standardised tools, methodologies and templates, such as those published on Create or Update a Local Plan. million in 2025-26 for the Planning Advisory Service to deliver specialist training, leadership development, and tailored guidance. • Supporting planning reform, ensuring the workforce has the skills and capacity to deliver proactive, efficient planning services and contribute to the delivery of 1.5 million homes. 4.4 At the 2025 Autumn Budget, the government announced £48 million of additional investment to strengthen planning capacity across the public sector. Of this, £28.8 million is dedicated to the C&C Programme, enabling scale-up over the next three years. This will fund 350 additional planners, on top of the original commitment to recruit 300, bringing the total to around 1,325 planners by the end of this Parliament. Wider cross-government initiatives will take the total number of planning recruits supported by the Budget to around 1,400. Engagement with sector partners continues to inform programme design and future interventions.