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As the Truss era begins, new data assesses Boris Johnson's housing legacy and which parts of the U.K. failed to back his ambitious targets
With Liz Truss confirmed as the U.K.'s new Prime Minister, all eyes will be on how the new Premier will deal with issues like the cost of living, the energy crisis and the war in Ukraine. However, the transition also provides an opportunity to reflect on the Boris Johnson era.
One of the outgoing P.M.'s big manifesto pledges - in a bid to tackle the U.K.'s housing crisis - was the delivery of 300,000 new houses per year. Whilst housebuilding hit a 33-year high in 2019, with 255,000 homes delivered, the total dropped to 243,000 homes last year, and is expected to drop again in 2022.
To what extent did planning permissions contribute to the shortfall? As Boris bows out, SearchLand data reveals which councils, counties and regions got behind his housing delivery push and which didn't.
ANNUAL PERMISSIONS
- 2022 (67.3%) and 2021 (69.7%) saw the lowest percentage of residential planning applications approved since 2008 (64.6%)
- The average percentage of residential planning applications approved during Boris Johnson's tenure was 70.1%
- The average percentage of residential planning applications approved during David Cameron's tenure was 75.4%
- The year with the highest percentage of residential planning applications approved was 2000 (78.5%), during Tony Blair's tenure
REGIONAL PERMISSIONS
- Across the regions, the North East (85.1%), Yorkshire (82%) and the North West (81.9%) saw the highest percentage of residential planning applications approved between 2018-2022
- London (59.8%), the East of England (67.3%), and the South East (68%), were the regions that saw the lowest percentage of residential planning applications approved between 2018-2022
ELECTORAL WARD PERMISSIONS
- Fylde (100%), Nuneaton (100%), Rotherham Boro (100%), Holborn & St. Pancras Boro (100%) and Wolverhampton North East Boro (98.3%), saw the highest percentage of residential planning applications approved between 2018-2022
- Romford Boro (34.1%), Hornchurch & Upminster Boro (36.4%) and Dagenham & Rainham (42%) saw the lowest percentage of residential planning applications approved between 2018-2022
The average percentage of planning applications approved between 2018-2022 was 75.8%
Hugh Gibbs, Co-Founder of SearchLand comments:
"It's fascinating looking at the role local decision-makers play when it comes to meeting housing delivery targets. Fundamentally, the pipeline begins with the approvals process, meaning if councils are slow or unnecessarily strict, central government will always struggle to reach its delivery goals.
"We believe technology has a huge part to play in speeding housing delivery. If developers can access relevant opportunities more quickly, as well as understand the likelihood of a planning application being approved or rejected, they can truly support government-led housing initiatives. That level of insight, combined with speed of access to opportunities, can only be achieved through technology."
