Intelligence/

The Government plans to introduce a Housing & Regeneration Bill and major reforms to the planning system as announced in the Queen’s Speech.

The Queen said that the government would create legislation to introduce a new homes and communities agency, which will “deal with social and affordable housing and to promote regeneration” in England & Wales.

The Housing and Regeneration Bill and the Planning Bill will help make possible the 240,000 new homes a year from 2016 announced by the Prime Minister.

The Planning Reform Bill is expected to draw heavily on the Planning White Paper which proposed the creation of an infrastructure planning commission on major national infrastructure projects.

The government has also confirmed abandoning the controversial Planning Gain Supplement (PGS) in favour of a local tariff based charge to provide funding for infrastructure.

The Bill will also draw from the findings of the Competition Commission’s preliminary findings into the UK grocery industry which has promulgated edge-of-centre development and that a fascia test is introduced to allow greater competition between supermarket operators.

Hazel Blears said:
"The Bills announced today will help us achieve this by delivering a better planning system for infrastructure and better homes”.