By Laura Potts, MRTPI, Planning Consultant, CAD Planning
In her Budget announcement on 27th November 2025, the Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced funding to hire 350 council planning officers and create a Planning Careers Hub to attract more graduates into the sector.
The additional investment to recruit planners is welcome, after a recent committee report on housing growth raised concerns about the exodus of planners leaving the profession. Planning reforms and the government’s ambitious building targets for 1.5 million new homes by the end of this parliament cannot be achieved without the staff to deliver them.
At CAD Planning, the leading independent planning consultancy in Cornwall, we welcome the £48 million announced to boost capacity, including funding for 350 additional planners, expansion of the Pathways to Planning Graduate Scheme and a new Planning Careers Hub, as a step in the right direction. However, considerable further action and investment is needed.
Looking at the published details, the commitment to 350 additional graduate and apprentice planners equates to just one additional planner per local authority, so it is only likely to have a fairly limited impact.
As the Office for Budget Responsibility has pointed out in its Budget response, the positive planning reforms will take time to materialise and a marked increase in housebuilding is only currently expected to take place from 2027/28. It is therefore imperative that all steps are taken to remove the current barriers to delivery, including tackling the issue of viability.
Planning reforms offer some optimism, with housing supply expected to rise from 2027. Assuming this is achievable, greater supply could ease long-term affordability pressures.
However, the government’s ambitious housebuilding targets that it set last year are now looking increasingly unlikely, with November data showing a six per cent decline in new additional dwellings. Add to this low productivity growth, labour shortages in construction and planning, and the Budget’s headline tax rises which will have ripple effects onto the housebuilding sector, it means that the economic outlook for the sector remains subdued for now.
Nevertheless, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill is almost set to receive Royal Assent, which should offer a boost to the planning process and open the door to increased investment. But at this stage, its actual impact is still purely hypothetical.
If the government is to pick up the pace and meet its ambitious housing and development targets, additional action is urgently needed.
At CAD Planning in Cornwall, we stay constantly abreast of all the latest national and local Planning news, so we can help our clients to deliver successful projects.
To find out more about CAD Planning and how we could help you with your project, email info@cad-planning.co.uk