At the start of 2023 the Conservative Government launched a consultation seeking views on each part of a package of proposals for reform of the planning system in England, supposedly intended to streamline and modernise the planning process, improve outcomes on design and sustainability, reform developer contributions and ensure more land is available for development where it is needed.

In March of that year the Society submitted its response. In it we commented on the implications the proposed changes could have on plan-making and housing supply, on the ways in which housing need should be assessed. We also disagreed that communities could be penalised as a consequence of developer failure to build and that that the government should revise national planning policy to attach more weight to Social Rent in planning policies and decisions.