Council-level planning processes are failing to adequately assist in addressing the nation’s ongoing shortage of affordable housing options, a new nationwide survey commissioned by Searchland revealed.
A survey of 1,039 members of the public revealed that 76% of people think the local council planning application and approval processes are difficult to understand and lack transparency.
Furthermore, an overwhelming 88% said that the process lacks both efficiency and timely completion.
It’s also clear that people are frustrated by the blinkered vision with which the planning boards make their decisions, as 77% of people believed that planning decision makers should do more to adequately seek out and consider the needs and opinions of the local community.
A further 67% said that local communities are given inadequate opportunity to provide input or make their views heard.
As a result of these various perceived flaws, the public also had little faith in the council planning process to address the biggest issues facing the nation’s housing market today.
In fact, 90% of people stressed the fact that the planning process is failing to address, let alone improve, the national shortage of affordable housing options.
As for why the planning process continues to be so flawed, the majority of people believed that the bureaucracy within local councils is the driving factor, followed by the fact local councils are under-resourced and due to a lack of expertise within the council.
Mitchell Fasanya, co-founder and CEO of Searchland, said: “There is no ambiguity in these survey results.
“When asked for their opinion, the people of the UK have been damning of the lame planning processes that should have been improved and modernised a long time ago.
“One can’t, however, place all of the blame with the councils alone; many of them do gallant work with insufficient resources.”
He added: “But today there are resources and tools outside of the bureaucracy of the public sector that can help people source and analyse land plots and planning history to be as prepared as possible for commencing the council planning application and approval process.
“This preparation can help the process be completed more efficiently and at greater speed.”
