Andy Sommerville, Director at Search Acumen, comments:
“It’s been a strong year for housebuilding, but planning applications and grants have continued to fall – 2018/2019 has seen the biggest dip in applications for a decade. At this rate, a slowdown in housebuilding is inevitable.
“While there is a dip in the time taken to grant decisions year on year, there’s no time to be complacent for planners. Headlines continue to proclaim the extent of the UK housing crisis with many young people still struggling to get on the property ladder in their chosen locations, hindered further by drawn out processes. Prospective homeowners seek metropolitan areas, close to transportation links and good schools – the fear is fewer applications are being made and accepted in the most desirable areas.
“We need to find more of the right places to build property upon, so developers need to focus on being smart to seek out opportunities. The data on our land is already available – we now need to make sure we are using it to its full potential.”
You can read the MHCLG planning applications in England here.
