UK Homebuilders Splash Cash in Bid to Bypass Busted Planning System
Firms are increasingly paying up for a service that offers — but doesn’t guarantee — a better planning approval process
Muddy boots on a construction site.
Photographer: Darren Staples/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Britain’s biggest developers are increasingly turning to a costly service to try to sidestep delays in the country’s broken planning system, a trend that underlines the extent of the challenge awaiting the new Labour government as it looks to make reforms.
Freedom of Information requests by Bloomberg to councils across the UK show that builders are using a tool called planning performance agreements more and more to get their proposals looked at. So-called PPAs per local authority climbed to the highest on record last year following eight years of consecutive annual rises.