Category: Opinions | May 17, 2025
We all know that the resourcing situation in local planning authorities is critical and urgently needs resolving. Many of us involved in the planning process have called for increased resources for local authority planning departments, with all interested parties citing that an ongoing lack of resource is one of the main causes of delay in decisions on planning applications and the discharge of planning conditions.
Without a fully funded planning system, the goal of delivering 1.5 million new, sustainable and community-focused housing developments remains challenging. According to the MHCLG Local Authority Planning Capacity and Skills Survey (January 2025 update), in the last 12 months, more than nine out of 10 planning departments reported some difficulty with recruitment (91%) and more than seven in 10 (72%) reported some difficulty with retaining staff. Around three in four planning departments reported significant barriers to resourcing, such as competing for talent (78%), difficulty attracting appropriately qualified candidates (77%), and a lack of qualified candidates (77%).
The ‘Planning on Empty’ report that the HBF published and updated in February 2025 revealed that 80% of local planning authorities are operating below full capacity, with many unable to keep up with the rising demand for housing applications. An estimated 2,200 planning officers are needed across England and Wales to address the gap, with local authorities facing high turnover rates and reliance on costly agency workers.
So, not only is there an issue with resource, recruitment and retention but also skills. Almost all (97%) planning departments reported in the MHCLG Local Authority Planning Capacity and Skills Survey that they have planning skills gaps. There is growing pressure on planning officers to have increased levels of technical expertise in more and more areas of the planning system, for instance: circular economy statements; whole life-cycle carbon assessments; and biodiversity net gain.
Without adequate funding and specialist resourcing, it is very difficult for local planning authorities to make informed judgements on such issues or turn around applications on time. Yes, calls have been made to central government to increase local authority funding, resourcing and also recruit more planning officers, but what no one seems to be talking about is the need to also recruit and retain good planning lawyers in local authorities. After all, they are the ones who draft the section 106 agreements in order for consents to be granted post a resolution to grant and who provide strategic legal advice to planning officers.
Many local authorities use agency planning lawyers as they cannot recruit permanently and the demands placed on these lawyers means that the private sector is more attractive to them, especially when you factor in the higher salaries. Of course, local planning authorities can instruct external lawyers to draft these agreements and the developers will pay for those legal costs. But those legal fees go straight into the pockets of the law firm used and the local authority does not see any of that money.
The planning fees, monitoring/enforcement fees and financial obligations are collected (and they are ring fenced for such items specifically), but a local authority loses out on any income that the legal department would have generated if the work was retained in house. The lack of money coming in creates a vicious circle that means there is less funding, which in turn means fewer staff can be recruited.
The ideal scenario would be for central government to create specialist in-house section 106 agreement legal teams so they can turn around the agreements quickly and also retain the expertise and legal fees in-house. The reality is that government is unlikely to do this unless it can find funds from elsewhere.
Even if such money did come in, approximately 80% of this would spent on the soaring costs of social care and homelessness. In London, boroughs say they are facing a £500m funding gap in 2025/26, despite receiving a 5.7% increase in spending power. At least seven boroughs – Havering, Newham, Lambeth, Enfield, Barnet, Haringey and Croydon – have applied for Exceptional Financial Support (EFS), effectively requesting crisis cash from the government to cover budget shortfalls.
Councils are not usually allowed to sell assets, such as land and property, to fund day-to-day spending. However, those who have applied for EFS from the government often request permission to do so. Several local authorities that have been unable to balance their books have had to issue a section 114 Notice. This means that they cannot commit to any new spending and must come back with a new budget within 21 days that falls in their spending envelope. When they do, it often means severe cuts to frontline services.
There are huge structural weaknesses and there is no easy or fast solution to this. It is time the government stopped kicking the can down the road and took meaningful action now.
