Housing targets are unrealistic and unfair, English councils say

Councils have raised the alarm over what they describe as unrealistic government targets for new housing, saying these penalise local authorities when the fault often lies with developers sitting on sites that already have planning permission.

- Peter Walker Geoffrey Lean

Councils have also complained that targets under the proposed new national planning policy framework (NPPF) for England are sometimes totally unrealistic in terms of what can be built and, in some cases, the amount of homes needed.

It follows earlier concerns that the wording of the NPPF could result in large expanses of pristine green belt being built over so councils could reach their targets.

The leaders of every political group on one council, including Labour, have written jointly to Angela Rayner warning that councils are "being set up to fail" with a planning framework based on an overly simplistic view of the housing market.

Under the NPPF, set out in July with a blueprint to deliver 1.5m homes this parliament, all regions apart from London must plan for thousands more homes. Councils that fail to deliver could risk penalties or even a takeover by ministers.

In the joint letter to Rayner, the housing secretary, Arun district council in West Sussex says it has granted more than 8,000 planning permissions for projects that have not been built by developers, and that simply adding new numbers to a target will not alter this.