THE amount of planning applications and planning permissions granted are down this year despite Labour’s enormous housing target of 1.5million new homes by the end of this Parliament.
Between July to September 2025, district level planning authorities in England received 78,800 applications for planning permission, down 3% from the same quarter a year earlier, new government stats have revealed.
They decided 76,200 applications for planning permission, down 4% from the same quarter a year earlier.
They granted 66,400 decisions, down 4% from the same quarter a year earlier; this is equivalent to 87% of decisions, unchanged from the same quarter a year earlier
And they granted 7,100 residential applications, down 3% from the same quarter a year earlier.
Pipe dream
Michelle Lawson, Director at Fareham-based Lawson Financial, said the government’s housing target was a “pipe dream”.
She continued: “The 1.5m housing figure was nothing more than a hot air statement and a pipe dream. Not one government has hit their housebuilding target and this one won’t be any different.
“Planning departments are taking way too long to get things through and are another victim of being understaffed and over-regulated. More projects can be completed under Permitted Development but the logjam in all departments isn’t helping matters.
“Add to the mix onerous tax rises and the shambles of rising unemployment and this is a recipe for disaster that will just escalate further.”
No plan
Samuel Mather-Holgate, Managing Director & IFA at Swindon-based Mather and Murray Financial, claimed Labour had no plan.
He said: “It should be strikingly obvious that setting a housing target without a strategy of achieving it is doomed to fail. Labour have not put incentives in place for builders or buyers yet wonder why they are so off target on their plan to get Britain building.
“The key to success here is to incentivise builders to construct affordable homes through the tax system. Build them and they will sell – although incentivising buyers through a revamped help to buy scheme would turbocharge the process and kick start Labour on its way.”
Shortage of workers
Aaron Strutt, Product and Communications Director at London-based Trinity Financial, said the building blocks are not in place for the homes to be built.
He added: “The price of materials has literally gone through the roof, so building homes is not economically viable for many developers at the moment.
“There is a shortage of workers and a lack of confidence in the economy. Most of the big lenders also no longer offer self-build mortgages, so these figures do not come as a surprise.”
Photo by Theo Topolevsky on Unsplash.
