A system under strain

Communities up and down the country are facing a planning system that’s slow, unpredictable, and often out of touch with local needs. The shortage of housing – now estimated at around 4.3 million homes compared to the European average – is the headline focus for the government, but it’s far from the whole story.

The same system has also failed to deliver the everyday infrastructure that make somewhere a great place to live: safe parks and green spaces, clean and accessible public toilets, community halls, libraries, playgrounds, and well-designed public squares.

When these are missing, the impact is felt straight away. Parents have fewer safe places for children to run around. Older residents may think twice about going into town if there’s nowhere to stop and use the loo. Local clubs and groups struggle to find affordable places to meet. Without green spaces, people lose easy ways to exercise, spend time outdoors, and meet their neighbours – and that affects both health and happiness.

There are secondary impacts on the priority at the heart of this government –  economic growth. When people spend less time in their town or city centres, they also spend less money there. Fewer trips into town mean fewer coffees bought, fewer visits to local shops, and fewer tickets sold for events. Without well-kept public spaces and basic facilities, footfall drops, and small businesses – from cafés to newsagents – feel the squeeze.

Over time, this can hollow out high streets, make it harder for new businesses to survive, and reduce the vibrancy that attracts visitors and investors. To deliver growth in every town and city, we need to set them up to succeed.

Why the Bill matters for communities

In our view, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill could help fix some of these long-standing problems and make it easier to deliver the facilities people need alongside the homes they live in.

• Faster decision-making – Cutting out delays in the planning process could mean new community infrastructure is built when they’re needed, not years later.

• Better strategic planning – Giving areas more power to plan ahead (as we called for in our General Election Manifesto) should help make sure new homes come with the right facilities from the start, not as an afterthought.

• Stronger development bodies – Development corporations will be able to oversee big projects in a joined-up way. The IFG has done great work on why these are important for communities.

• Improved energy connections – Quicker links to the electricity grid will help power everything from floodlights on playing fields to heating in community centres, keeping costs down and making them more sustainable.

If delivered well, this Bill will both help hit housing targets and build large-scale infrastructure whilst also giving tools to improve the everyday quality of life. A park, a public toilet, or a community hall might seem small compared to a motorway or a power station, but they bring people together and make a place feel like home.

If the Bill delivers on its promises, we could see a planning system that’s quicker, more consistent, and better resourced – one that gives communities roofs over their heads and the public spaces and facilities that make neighbourhoods thrive.