Gravis Planning's David Kerr sets out his Northern Ireland political update at IoD NI business breakfast
20 January 2025
Insights
Housing emergency? What housing emergency?
21 October 2024
Following his recent analysis of what the latest changes in Scottish planning policy mean for the housing sector, our Director of Planning in Great Britain, Keith Hargest, has commented on the implications of the decisions taken last week by the Scottish Directorate of Planning and Environmental Appeals (DPEA) to refuse a number of appeals which would have allowed thousands of much-needed homes to be developed in the face of what the Scottish Government has itself declared a national 'housing emergency'.
The Scottish DPEA (Directorate of Planning and Environmental Appeals) had a busy day last Wednesday, issuing no less than 16 decision letters.
Thirteen of these decisions determined appeals for large housing developments (classed as 10 or more units). Many of these have been in the appeals system for a long time with some appellants waiting over four years for their decision. Given that both the Scottish Government and half of all Scottish Councils have declared a 'housing emergency' due to lack of supply and affordability of housing, this was a great opportunity for the planning system to demonstrate how much weight should be given to meeting critical shortfalls in housing supply in the determination of appeals.
What happened, then, is somewhat surprising, since all 13 of these appeals were dismissed. In total these development proposals could have contributed over 3,000 new housing units, including significant numbers of affordable units, in many locations right across the central belt. In fact, if one looks at major housing appeal decisions over the past six months, only three have been approved following appeal (all of these were refusals contrary to officer recommendations) and 17 have been dismissed.
Whilst there will have been particular issues that needed to be considered in each of these cases, there is no doubt that the Mossend decision and NPF4 Policy 16 were critical in resulting in the dismissal of these applications. If the Scottish Government and local authorities are serious in the announcements of 'emergency' then the ability of the private sector to deliver both market and affordable housing needs to be given much greater weight than is apparent in these decisions.
Those defending the planning system in Scotland are quick to point out that delays in the delivery of housing often result from issues originating in the private sector, however, it is clear that the failure of the DPEA to give sufficient weight to addressing the housing emergency as a critical material consideration indicates that a substantial part of the blame for lack of new housing lies very much with planning policy - not just in LDPs, but especially in NPF4 Policy 16.
