Shortage of council workers may thwart Labour’s housebuilding plans

A shortage of planning staff could thwart the government’s ambitious housebuilding plans, councils have warned.

Planning departments have the worst workforce shortages, with 84 per cent of local authorities experiencing recruitment and retention issues, research by the District Councils’ Network (DCN) found.

Too few planners could lead to lower housebuilding rates as well as suboptimal developments where they are built, the DCN warned.

It comes after ministers announced £550million of investment from major firms Schroders, Man Group and Resonance, who have committed to deliver affordable housing across the UK.

A shortage of planning staff could thwart the government’s ambitious housebuilding plans, councils have warned

Labour has committed to building 1.5million homes by the end of the current parliament in 2029. Councillor Richard Wright said: ‘Planning departments have been among the most impacted in recent years as shrinking budgets have forced councils to reduce spending’

Labour has committed to building 1.5million homes by the end of the current parliament in 2029.

But ministers are today warned that failing to invest in local government would ensure the housing supply crisis continues.

Councillor Richard Wright, DCN’s planning and growth spokesman, said: ‘Planning departments have been among the most impacted in recent years as shrinking budgets have forced councils to reduce spending but if the Government’s housebuilding revolution is to succeed we need a step change in the recruitment and retention of planners.

‘Properly resourced planners can help ensure the Government’s housebuilding plans will bring about hundreds of sustainable and well-sited new communities that provide housing which will stand the test of time.

‘With degraded planning expertise, we risk building housing in isolated locations which are beset by social problems, and in which no one wants to live.

‘So I urge the Treasury to properly resource planning authorities if it wants the Government to achieve its most fundamental goal of ending the housing crisis.’

Councillor Jeremy Newmark, DCN’s finance spokesman, added: ‘Local services and national policy goals depend on properly functioning councils – but deepening shortages of finance officers and lawyers have the potential to paralyse councils, or even lead to their collapse. It’s in the Treasury’s interest to act now to ward off far worse problems later.’

In addition, homelessness teams in nearly a third of councils experienced shortages, prompting further warnings that the housing crisis could deepen further before it improves.

On Sunday some councils warned Housing Secretary Angela Rayner that they were being ‘set up to fail’ with a planning framework based on an overly simplistic view of the housing market.

Last month it emerged that planning approvals for new houses in England fell to a 10-year low.

Ministers have attempted to redress the stagnation in housebuilding by announcing an overhaul of planning regulations and announcing ‘New Towns’ that could lead to thousands of new dwellings each.

Responding to the investment yesterday, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones said: ‘We are dedicated to creating the right environment for impact investment across the country, and the announcement of over half a billion pounds worth of impact investment building tens of thousands of new homes is a great example of the change that we are delivering on.’