Councils ‘to be bypassed’ for large-scale housing developments: Legal comment

18 November 2025

Local authorities will be prevented from refusing planning permission for large housing developments in new government proposals.

Steve Reed, Housing and Communities Secretary, today (18 November) confirmed changes to streamline the statutory consultee process as part of Westminster's 1.5 million homes target.

This includes new powers that mean planning applications for schemes comprising more than 150 homes will be referred directly to central government – bypassing council planning committees in an attempt to fast-track applications.

Will Thomas, partner in planning at UK and Ireland law firm Browne Jacobson, said: “Developers will welcome any move to unlock housebuilding, but any intervention from central government must ensure it doesn’t merely move decision-making bottlenecks between public authorities or risk undermining an already fragile public confidence in development.

“Bypassing local authorities to call in applications for more than 150 homes to the Secretary of State will still require the involvement of the Planning Inspectorate, which may face a significant influx of applications it hasn’t dealt with until now.

“Moving this administrative layer from local to central government therefore raises questions about whether sufficient capacity exists within the civil service – and whether a better solution would be to resource local authority planning departments more effectively.

“It’s important that decisions aren’t rushed and all the necessary considerations are still considered to ensure that development is well planned. Forcing through large-scale housing projects too rapidly could increase tensions between communities and government, so the government’s housebuilding ambitions must be matched by a drive to upgrade critical infrastructure, such as schools, hospitals and transport systems.

“More broadly, the development industry should continue to work closely with councils to meaningfully engage communities and proactively mitigate the disruption caused by new housing before it arises, ensuring the economic and social benefits of development is felt in the villages, towns and cities accommodating it first and foremost.

“Creating a more positive picture of development could also help to tackle another key challenge that planning reform alone won’t address, which is the acute skills gaps in planning and construction. While a more efficient planning system will help to grease the wheels for developers, the cost of new housing will not come down without an influx of new talent in bricklaying, carpentry and emerging technologies such as heat pump installation.

“The viability of new housing projects is another issue voiced regularly by our developer clients. The costs of raw materials and borrowing have soared since the pandemic, while regulations and new taxes like the Building Safety Levy continue to squeeze margins.

“So, while the government is putting housebuilding at the heart of its economic growth strategy, it’s clear that delivery is tied to the government’s success in other economic policies such as access to cheaper energy, bringing down inflation and bridging skills gaps.”

Browne Jacobson is working with the CBI to identify a new public-private partnership model for government to manage investment in public infrastructure.

In a report with the think tank New Local, 'Constructing Consensus: The case for community-powered development and regeneration', the firm has called for the establishment of citizen assemblies to ensure developments respond to community priorities, such as lack of GP and school capacity, inadequate roads and railways, or underinvestment in leisure facilities.