The British Property Federation (BPF) has ahead of the general election published a new planning manifesto, ‘Building More, Building Better’ calling on the next Government not to embark upon a radical rewrite of the planning system, but instead improve existing policies and structures to deliver a planning system that functions quickly, efficiently and with certainty to deliver the places that will make the country more productive and sustainable.

The manifesto argues that the planning system does not currently function effectively when it comes to the ‘larger-than-local’ planning required to deliver major developments, or in meeting the needs of both housing growth and the logistics/industrial facilities that supports new communities and creates new jobs.

Claire Dutch, head of UK real estate practice at Ashurst and chair of the BPF Planning Committee, said: “We are proposing evolution rather than revolution, with a six-point plan to strengthen strategic planning and cooperation, ensuring that the system has adequate resourcing, introducing a standard method for assessing housing need, scrapping the Infrastructure Levy and enhancing CIL/S106, allowing the local plan system to bed it, and having a genuine conversation over the role of the Green Belt.”