Invest and Prosper: a business case for investing in planning
Summary
The planning systems in the UK set the context for development and create the enabling conditions for a sustainable and healthy built environment. Planning shapes the environments where people work, live and interact. Through strategic spatial planning, the system can ensure that all residents and businesses have a good level of access to services and infrastructure, resources are appropriately accounted for in development decisions, and that new developments make efficient use of resources and technologies. Planning can also address potential negative impacts of development which can be harmful to human health.
Analysis and research for this report finds that the planning systems across the UK underpin economic, social, environmental and health outcomes. Quality plan-making, and housing delivery in particular, is integral to meeting sustainable development targets. Key benefits the planning system directly provides or supports include:
- Affordable housing delivered through planning obligations saved the NHS[1] £240 million in 2019;
- Living in a well-planned neighbourhood can support up to 59% of NHS-recommended weekly activity;
- Urban greenspaces in Great Britain provide £16.5 billion in environmental, health and amenity value per year;
- Planning ensures good access to economic opportunities, with 73% of planning housing permissions in England located within 10km of a major employment cluster;
- Homes developed through planning permission are three times more likely to meet National Space Standards; and,
- Planning policies prevent excess air pollution, which costs the UK £9-19 billion each year.
Planning plays a key role in delivering these benefits, but they are poorly understood and seldom attributed to the planning system. Without effective planning systems, many of these benefits would not be captured, affecting the quality of life for residents and imposing costs on both the public and private sectors.