Councils face exodus of planners in threat to housebuilding goals
One in five UK planners intends to leave the field or retire by 2028, in another significant threat to the government’s housebuilding target, according to new data.
Nearly two-thirds of planners said their teams lacked the capacity to meet demand, according to the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI).
The RTPI has warned that the exodus will affect local authorities’ capacity to make decisions and sign off on projects, a key part of Labour’s plans to build 1.5m homes by 2029.
Around 85 per cent of local authorities had at least one staff vacancy and were struggling to meet demands, while most had more gaps, according to the FT.
“The private sector is generating lots of applications for developments, but there isn’t the capacity in local government to take them through the process and identify the impact, whether it’s flooding, noise or the environmental effect,” Victoria Hills, chief executive of the RTPI, told the FT.
“None of the system works if you don’t have the capacity in local government,” Hills added.
Earlier this year, Unison found that one in nine (11 per cent) planning posts were unfilled, warning that the lack of planning officers could “derail” plans to deliver more affordable housing.
Understaffing is a significant reason why planning decisions have slowed down in recent years, with spending cuts during the 2010s contributing to severe shortages.
Planners for public sector authorities earn between £40,000 and £50,000 compared with about £80,000 for private developers.
“Delivering 1.5m new homes and starting on 150 nationally significant infrastructure projects will be tough without adequate funding and training for local authority planning services, and without a variety of accessible routes into the profession,” Hills said.
This comes as the construction industry has shed workers at its steepest rate in five years in October, marking the tenth consecutive month of sectoral contraction.
Additionally, business activity expectations for the coming 12 months remain much weaker than the long-run average.