Trust response to White Paper: Planning for the Future

October 2020 - The Trust has responded to the Government’s White Paper: Planning for the Future, which proposes radical reforms to the planning system.

Our overall assessment of the White Paper is that it is composed of commendable intentions, from the need for planning reform in the first place to many interesting ideas in each section. However, we are concerned there are flaws which will prevent the delivery of desirable objectives, in particular:

1. an absence of clarity or detail in many cases, making it difficult to respond satisfactorily;

2. an underestimate of the complexity and time needed to achieve some of the proposals;

3. a failure to recognise the difficulty in organising meaningful engagement of local communities, together with an overreliance on unexplained digital methods.

After considering all the responses to this consultation, we hope more work will be undertaken by the Government on the details of the proposals before they are introduced, including taking further advice from those who are involved with the planning system.

Click here to read the Trust’s response.