Lack of planners endangering British cities

British cities face “paralysis or chaotic and under-regulated growth” because of a lack of qualified planners, MPs have warned.

Around 17,000 public sector planners are floundering under a growing tide of 650,000 planning applications made to councils each year.

And their struggle threatens to undermine the government’s housebuilding targets and endanger Britain’s economic growth, according to the Communities and Local Government Committee.

The group has called for an overhaul of the planning sector and a review of the Academy of Sustainable Communities, which it says has spent £13m to reach only 3% of the workforce in three years.

“Wider economic well-being and delivery of the government’s environmental priorities could well be hindered simply because the system cannot cope,” the report warns.

British Property Federation boss Liz Peace said the government needed to better structure planning departments.

“It is pointless beefing up skills and numbers if (planners) are then employed on low level tasks that do not require that level of skills,” she said.

“We need to ensure that the skilled planner we do have are used on quality planning issues and are not diverted onto domestic cases that could well be dealt with by a technician.”

Home Builders Federation director of external affairs John Slaughter said a better investment in planners was essential in helping the market recover after the downturn.