Policy background Housing supply and the speed of delivery New tools for housebuilders and decision-makers
The Government made a commitment to get planning permission in place on 90% of brownfield land suitable for housing by 2020. The Act supports the development of brownfield land by requiring local authorities to prepare, maintain and publish local registers of specified land.
	The Act enables permission in principle to be granted for housing-led development on sites chosen and allocated by local authorities, parish councils and neighbourhood forums in development plan documents, neighbourhood plans and their brownfield register. It allows development on suitable sites to proceed quicker by agreeing in principle matters upfront.
	In line with the Government's commitment to devolution, this Act enables the Secretary of State to devolve further planning powers to the Mayor of London and at the request of local authorities to make alterations to the planning system to speed up local delivery.
	The Government has an ambition to double the number of custom-built and self-built homes by 2020. In March 2015 Parliament passed the Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015.  The Act, which came into force on 1st April 2016, requires local planning authorities to compile a register of persons seeking to acquire land to build or commission their own home and to have regard to that register when carrying out their planning, housing, land disposal and regeneration functions.  The Housing and Planning Act 2016 requires local planning authorities to ensure that there are sufficient serviced permissioned plots consistent with the local demand on their custom build registers.  This is intended to make it much easier for people to find land to build or commission their own home, diversifying housing supply and revitalising smaller builders who have not experienced the same level of recovery as the large housebuilders since the financial crisis.
	Since 2012, developers putting forward applications for major development have been able to submit these applications to the Planning Inspectorate for decision should the local planning authority fail to make decisions on time. This has seen the number of major applications decided on time increase to 81% in October to December 2015, compared with 57% in July to September 2012, when the designation approach was first introduced. This Act will extend the cases where planning authorities may be designated for poor performance to include applications for non-major developments. Once designated applicants  for  non-major development will, unless regulations provide otherwise, have the option to submit their application to the Planning Inspectorate. This will take place where the local planning authority has a track record of very poor performance in the speed or quality of its decision-making.
	This Act will also take forward the Government's commitment to require local authorities to manage their housing assets more efficiently. Local authorities will be required to make a payment to the Secretary of State based on the value of their vacant higher value housing. These payments would be used to help support people into home ownership, including funding discounts for housing association tenants' Right to Buy. The value of this housing will also be used to fund the building of new homes to meet housing need.
	The Act introduces a common process for establishing both Urban and New Town Development Corporations and Areas.  They will be established, following statutory consultation, through the affirmative (though expressly de-hybridised) resolution procedure in both Houses of Parliament. The process for establishing Urban Development Corporations and Areas and New Town Development Areas previously differed. The reforms aim to speed up the process and to remove any duplication of work undertaken as part of local plan preparations, whilst allowing for proper Parliamentary scrutiny.