CPRE broadly welcomes the White Paper in that it acknowledges that housing problems are multi-faceted, and are not simply a matter of perceived restrictions in the availability of land, despite arguments of some developers and think tanks to the contrary.

However, some proposals put forward will in our view cause more harm than good. With this in mind, CPRE outlines the key objectives that the Government should pursue, in relation to planning for housing:

• Ensuring every local authority area is covered by an adopted local plan;
• Maximising use of previously developed land for development and more strongly enforced restrictions against building on land that is generally restricted, in particular Green Belts and other designated areas;
• Devising a fair and transparent, standard approach to determining Objectively Assessed Housing Need (OAN) that is realistic in the approach to how, and how many, households will be formed across England in the coming years, and what their housing needs are;
• Reforming the proposed housing delivery test to shift the emphasis away from penalising local authorities and communities for house builders’ failure to deliver; and
• Providing more resources for ‘cash-strapped’ local planning authorities.
• Ensuring appropriate community engagement and consultation when local plans are produced.