Housing completion figures make depressing reading . Housing completions are down dramatically from several decades ago as also are the building of Council Houses.
The politicians seem to blame the builders in part for holding on to land or land banking and also for taking too long from planning consent to moving on to site.
But many other constraints are there to add to the malaise. Staff levels are down in Local authorities and also in the large house builders . Fewer people are doing more. There is a serious shortage of skilled experienced staff throughout from Planners to utilities companies and as the work levels increase the stress level multiply .
Also since the recession much more technically difficult sites are being built on. Local authorities have Local Development Plans way out of date.
It takes so long to process applications and the large utilities companies are nightmares to deal with. Therefore, much longer leading times have to be programmed in for site starts.
A culture change is needed in Planning. It needs political will which really is not at the top of the list. The politicians are good at lip service!
