For over a decade, Wiltshire Council has maintained a commendable track record in meeting central government-imposed housing targets, constructing approximately 2,000 homes annually. This rural region in south-west England has served as a model of consistency amidst the often volatile landscape of UK housing development. However, recent pledges by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to overhaul the UK’s sluggish planning system and enforce more stringent house-building targets suggest a potentially dramatic shift in this equilibrium.
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To gain an insider’s perspective on the complexities and challenges inherent in meeting these new targets, I had the opportunity to speak with Nic Thomas, the Director of Planning at Wiltshire, at their County Hall headquarters in Trowbridge. Having led Wiltshire’s planning department for several years, Thomas is well-versed in the intricacies of the housing development process. He begins by acknowledging the enormity of the new targets. “The ambition is bold but, in my opinion, unrealistic without more far-reaching reforms,” he states candidly. Wiltshire’s new target of 3,476 homes per year represents an 81% increase from its current output, a figure Thomas views as a herculean task requiring more than just incremental changes.
A significant hurdle in achieving these targets, Thomas explains, is the behaviour of developers. “We can never deliver that number of houses, ever, and we’re a pro-building county,” he notes. The crux of the problem lies in developers’ tendency to control the supply of new homes. An analysis by the Local Government Association reveals that more than 1 million homes granted planning permission in England and Wales since 2010 have not been built. In Wiltshire alone, planning permission has been granted for over 16,000 homes, yet only a small fraction are in progress.
Richard Clewer, the Conservative leader of Wiltshire Council, adds, “Developers ‘game the system’ to avoid large developments that also require them to build roads, schools, and other amenities.” He cites the long-stalled plan for a 2,500-home development at West Ashton as a prime example. Negotiations for this project have been ongoing for nine years, primarily due to disagreements over infrastructure and affordable housing provisions. The National Planning Policy Framework mandates that councils maintain a five-year pipeline of house-building projects, but this proves challenging. “It’s become impossible to maintain a ‘five supply’ even when building 2,000 homes a year because the developers play the system by holding back developments,” Clewer laments.
Beyond the developers, another substantial challenge lies in the bureaucratic red tape and staffing shortages within local planning departments. Wiltshire has recently invested £1 million to upgrade its planning services and created 18 new roles since February. Despite these efforts, the department struggles to keep pace with increasing regulatory requirements. “The burdens on planning services have increased massively. Developments now require complex evaluations about their impacts on biodiversity and water pollution,” Thomas elaborates.
One particularly frustrating regulatory hurdle is the “nutrient neutrality” rules, which mandate builders to mitigate the amount of phosphates leaching into watercourses due to sewage. A developer working on the Jubilee Gardens project in Warminster experienced a year’s delay because of these regulations. “The expensive bit is time. Waiting for approvals means I have to demobilise and then remobilise construction teams. I would pay ten times the fees if I could get guarantees on how long approvals were going to take,” the developer revealed.
Labour’s proposals to deliver 1.5 million homes in its first five-year term include allowing building on “ugly” parts of the protected greenbelt, limiting aesthetic objections from local councils, and prioritising “critical” infrastructure projects. However, Parvis Khansari, the Director of Place at Wiltshire, remains sceptical. “The proposals from the current government are really just doing more of the same, but a bit better,” he remarks. “It’s radical in terms of the numbers — they are incredible — but just not in terms of actual delivery.”
To unlock the land and compel developers to build, some local councillors, like Jonathon Seed, suggest the necessity of additional compulsory purchase order (CPO) powers. “I don’t like it in principle, but we need to find some way of unlocking land from developers who are acting without any thought for the community,” Seed argues.
Reflecting on these discussions, it is evident that the path to meeting the new housing targets is fraught with challenges. From regulatory obstacles to developers’ tactics, the issues are multifaceted and deeply ingrained. While the ambition to “get Britain building again” is commendable, the execution will require a level of reform and cooperation that has thus far proven elusive. As Wiltshire braces itself for this housing revolution, the experiences and insights of its planners, councillors, and developers underscore the complexities involved in translating policy into reality.
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