Despite some really positive moves by the government, planning remains a major block on development. Gaining an implementable permission for even a medium-sized project requires vast amounts of time and expense, not least because of the amount of information that is now required simply for a planning authority to accept an application as valid.
While there is a need to protect green belt and how land is developed this could be achieved by a more efficient planning system which is less bureaucratic. Until this is done there will be a continued housing shortage with developers adverse to taking the risk with expensive planning applications.
