Osborne relaxes planning rules to boost house-building

George Osborne has unveiled a plans to automatically grant planning permission to developers building on derelict brownfield sites in a bid to boost house-building in England.

The proposals would also see major housing projects fast-tracked, rules on extensions in London relaxed and ministers granted new powers to seize disused land.

The "significant overhaul" of the country's planning system would mean that local communities will be "forced to accept development against their will if they are failing to build enough homes", the Daily Telegraph reports.

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The changes are part of a push to increase productivity and will be outlined in a 90-page document "Fixing the Foundations: Creating a more prosperous nation". In it Chancellor Osborne argues that his reforms "confront the challenge of our lifetime" by "raising productivity and living standards" in Britain.

Currently, the UK is "incapable of building enough homes" to meet demand and the government will "intervene" to ensure councils have plans "setting out how housing needs will be met".

The controversial changes include a provision for any major infrastructure project which has "elements of housing development" to be fast-tracked. This will have the effect of "potentially forcing thousands of homes on areas of the country that do not want them", the Telegraph says.

Developers in London will also no longer need to seek permission before building "upwards extensions" of two storeys.

However, the plans to encourage development on derelict brownfield sites wil not be enough, according to James Fennell of planning consultancy Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners. He told the BBC that 90 per cent of the UK still remains undeveloped and that the Chancellor would have to make "tougher choices" if he was to hit his target of building more than two million homes by 2030.

"In some areas release of Green Belt is required alongside development on brownfield land," said Fennell. "If government continues to shy away from this issue the housing crisis cannot be addressed."

The blueprint amounts to a "nationalisation of planning decisions" and a "shift away" from the former coalition government's agenda of localism, Professor Tony Travers from the London School of Economics told the BBC.