Weekly planning news
Planning news - 16 October 2025
National Planning Conference 2025 – Collaboration & innovation in Planning
The National Planning Conference 2025, jointly hosted by ourselves at Planning Portal and the RTPI, brought together leading voices from across the planning and built environment sectors to tackle the most pressing challenges facing the profession. The event combined “anxiety and aspiration” as delegates explored the potential impact of reforms on planning’s ability to deliver, from AI and digital innovation to affordable housing and sustainable development.
The day opened with addresses from the Chief Planners for England, Scotland, and Wales, who emphasised “the urgent need to inspire and attract new talent into the planning profession.” Themes of collaboration and inclusivity were central, with TerraQuest’s Daniel Williams calling for a focus on breaking down silos, and RTPI leaders Victoria Hills and Helen Fadipe celebrating the value of constructive debate in driving meaningful change.
Sessions highlighted practical innovations, including the Planning Portal’s intelligent features to improve application quality and efficiency, and insights from Dame Judith Hackitt on building safety. Planning Portal’s Scott Alford, showcased data on housing delivery through the new Planning Application Index, sparking discussion on trends and priorities. The lively ‘grey belt’ debate, with contributions from stakeholders across local government, national government, and private development, highlighted “mixed views across the sector, with many emphasising the need for both viability and consistency” in land management.
The conference closed with reflections from Prior + Partners and other industry voices on embedding collaboration and innovation at every stage of planning delivery, reinforcing the government’s positioning of planning as central to rebuilding Britain. The overarching message: progress happens when stakeholders “come together, share ideas, and turn collective insight into meaningful action.”
The Planner: Read the full story1
Planning Portal: Read our take on the day2
NAO report reveals widespread failings and potential fraud in government home insulation scheme
A National Audit Office (NAO) report has found “widespread quality failings” and possible fraud in a government-backed energy efficiency programme, with 98% of homes retrofitted having major defects. According to the NAO, “98% of external wall insulation installations (between 22,000 and 23,000 homes) require remediation,” with 6% posing immediate health and safety risks. For internal wall insulation, “29% were defective and 2% posed serious risks.”
Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said: “Clear failures in the design and set-up of ECO and in the consumer protection system have led to poor-quality installations, as well as suspected fraud. DESNZ [Department for Energy Security and Net Zero] must now ensure that businesses meet their obligations to repair all affected homes as quickly as possible.”
The report warns that remediation costs could range from “£5,000 to £18,000 per property for external insulation and £250 to £6,000 for internal work,” with extreme cases exceeding £250,000. It also notes potential large-scale fraud, estimating “£56-165m in payments may have been wrongly claimed for insulation work that was never properly delivered.”
The NAO blames a “fragmented” governance system with “no single body clearly accountable” and a scheme designed “without a formal fraud risk assessment,” leaving it “vulnerable to abuse.” DESNZ “does not currently track how long remediation takes or maintain a published plan for bringing all affected homes up to standard.”
Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: “The report reveals a system that has let cowboys through the front door, leaving thousands of victims living in misery.” Gavin Smart, chief executive at the Chartered Institute of Housing, added: “Today’s report exposes systemic failures in the delivery of insulation measures that should make homes warmer and healthier, but have instead led to devastating consequences for some residents and communities, through no fault of their own.”
The government has responded by suspending installer businesses, commissioning audits, and establishing a helpline. Martin McCluskey, minister for energy consumers, said: “This government has taken decisive action to protect households and ensure all poor installations of solid wall insulation are fixed at no cost to the consumer.”
UK housing sector urges government to unfreeze local housing allowance
Leaders of 40 groups across the housing sector are calling on the government to “unfreeze Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates for the next year to help reduce homelessness and the use of temporary accommodation.” In a joint letter, they urged ministers to “restore housing benefit for private renters so it covers the cheapest 30% of rents in a local area and to commit to keeping it at this level during the current parliamentary term.”
They warned that the freeze is “forcing people to make impossible decisions between paying rent and other essentials” and noted that the LHA “has not automatically linked to rent rises since 2013.” Research highlights that “less than 3% of private housing is affordable for people receiving housing benefit,” and restoring LHA rates “would lift 75,000 children and 125,000 adults out of poverty across the UK.”
Gavin Smart, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, said: “The gap between what people receive in benefit and what they must pay in rent has become unbridgeable in many areas. The government must urgently restore LHA rates – at least to the 30th percentile of local rents – so that no one has to choose between keeping a roof over their head or heating their home this winter.”
Florence Eshalomi, chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government committee, said: “It’s shameful that so many families are without a home. Our committee heard compelling evidence that the decision to re-freeze LHA rates will leave families unable to afford private sector rents and place them at risk of homelessness. This is a false economy that increases temporary accommodation costs for councils and undermines the additional funding for homelessness services. At the Budget, the chancellor should look again at LHA and carefully consider the impact that freezing LHA is having on our homelessness services and families struggling to make ends meet.”
A government spokesperson responded: “We’re tackling the impact of rising rents and the housing shortage with our commitment to build 1.5 million homes… We’re also putting more money in people’s pockets by uprating benefits, making Universal Credit deductions fairer, and helping people move out of poverty and into good, secure jobs as part of our Plan for Change.”
Government announces pro-growth changes to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill
On the 14th October government announced new measures will be added to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to help aid growth across the sector.
Provided the pro-growth package is voted through, it will look to “slash planning delays”, focusing on removing blockers from growth and building. This comes as part of the wider focus on development and pro-growth reform.
The powers introduced could prevent councils from rejecting planning permissions where the application is in consideration to be ‘called-in’. This will be achieved through Minister’s issuing a ‘holding direction’. Government have stated that last year alone, almost “900 major housing schemes [were] blocked”.
Additionally, builders will receive help preventing permissions from timing out whilst projects are held up in court, another step to unlock stalled schemes.
Changes also shift into the environmental sphere, the proposed measures would allow non-water companies to build large reservoirs.
Natural England will benefit from a reduced burden of local authority queries, providing them with the discretion to focus on higher-risk applications, or those where nature recovery is possible.
The Nature Restoration Fund could be expanded to aid marine protection and development, helping accelerate coastal projects.
More information on the amendments to the bill can be found on the government website.5
- https://www.theplanner.co.uk/2025/10/14/uncertainty-and-hope-heart-planning-national-planning-conference-2025
- https://www.terraquest.co.uk/news-and-insights/national-planning-conference-2025-collaboration-planning-insights
- https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/clear-failures-and-suspected-fraud-nao-reveals-98-of-homes-retrofitted-under-government-scheme-have-major-defects-94189
- https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/40-uk-sector-organisations-unite-in-call-for-government-to-unfreeze-lha-in-next-budget-94206
- https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pro-growth-package-unshackling-britain-to-get-building
