By Laura Potts, MRTPI, Planning Consultant, CAD Architects
The 2025 National Planning Barometer was launched at UKREiiF (UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum) on 21st May 2025. The Barometer is undertaken by consultancy SEC Newgate. It surveyed 485 councillors who sit on planning committees, spread across 228 local authority areas in England. The survey ran between February and April 2025.
92% of councillors reported that the housing crisis had either persisted or worsened in the last year, while 77% reported a severe housing crisis in their local authority alongside a “significant” need for temporary and emergency accommodation.
Only 6% of respondents viewed the planning system as the root cause of the failure to build enough homes. Instead, councillors cited conflicting priorities between key actors in the planning system and negative market conditions as the main causes.
According to the survey, national planning policies were perceived to be a threat to local democracy. 63% opposed the return to mandatory housing targets. Just 31% of councillors said they thought compliant applications should be delegated (the National Scheme of Delegation features in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill), and only 25% said they thought it would improve the performance of their planning committee.
The findings included the following:
- 7 in 10 cited developers claiming lack of viability for affordable housing as a major barrier to housing delivery within their local authority areas.
- The second biggest challenge was the slow build-out of housing by developers, according to 58% of respondents (an increase of 18% on last year).
- 47% cited community opposition to development as a barrier to delivery (up from 33% in 2024).
- 45% said a lack of suitable sites is a key issue (up from 33% last year).
- 8 in 10 report social and affordable housing as the most-needed housing tenure.
- A third said the construction sector’s skills shortage was the primary reason they lacked confidence in meeting the government’s 1.5 million homes target.
- Developer land-banking is also cited by 19% of councillors as a blocker to meeting the target.
- Nearly a third of councillors cited resourcing issues in the planning team as a barrier to housing delivery.
- In terms of priorities, 74% of those surveyed cited the delivery of affordable housing for future generations as their top priority for 2025.
- In this context, only 20% believe that the government’s removal of national requirements for affordable housing will help the situation, with 60% believing it will have a negative impact on affordable housing supply.
What are the implications of these findings?
These findings highlight real tension between the government’s goals for house building and its delivery on a local level. While the government is seeking new powers to intervene and speed up build-out of new developments while also addressing the delays caused by land- banking, these will take some time to have an effect. Similarly, the skills shortage in construction will have an impact on the achievement of government targets, as will the increased level of local opposition to new developments.
Even if new housing construction is substantially increased, it is clear from these findings that delivery of local requirements for affordable housing and social housing will remain a really difficult area, and one that may require further government intervention in the future.
While local planning authorities face a number of tough challenges, they are also hampered by a shortage of resources, which makes the situation even more testing.
This survey highlights how local authorities need to strike a balance between the government’s priorities and the specific needs of their local communities.
There are a number of important root causes behind the failure to build enough homes, and these will need to be addressed for the government to be successful in its delivery of housing targets over the coming years.
At CAD Planning, we keep in close touch with developments like these, so that we can help our clients navigate the complexities of Local Planning. We are in constant dialogue with our local authorities, so that we can understand the challenges they are facing, their objectives for the local community, and how these impact their approach to planning approvals.
When you work with CAD Planning, you benefit from this specialist expertise and our track record at delivering the best planning outcomes for our clients.
Get in touch on 01872 630040 or email info@cad-planning.co.uk