Call to recruit more planners

The government may not meet its target to build three million new homes by 2020 as a result of significant skills gaps, MPs have warned.

In a report published on Thursday, the Commons communities and local government committee called for the planning system to be reformed to better manage the volume and variety of tasks.

As it stands, the current system "cannot cope" and ministers must sort out the problems or face "paralysis" in England's economy, the MPs warned.

The report said: "Perhaps the most surprising and frustrating point to arise repeatedly from this inquiry is the fact that labour and skills shortages in planning are so unsurprising.

"They have been evident for well over a decade but review after review, report after report, recommendation after recommendation have not resulted in their reduction.

"This must change. Without this capacity, our towns, our cities and our economy will be threatened by paralysis or chaotic and under-regulated growth."

The committee called on the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to ensure pay reflected skills and demand levels.

And it suggested that a national advertising campaign be launched to raise the status of the planning profession, with plans to recruit high-flying university leavers.

Committee chairman Phyllis Starkey said: "When we began this inquiry we intended to look at the skills shortage in modern planning departments but we quickly discovered the problem went further and that there was a shortage of planners themselves.

"What is perhaps most surprising, and frustrating, is the fact that these shortages have been in evidence for well over a decade but despite numerous reviews nothing has been done."

Welcoming the report, a DCLG spokesman said it remained committed to building three million new homes by 2020.

"We have taken significant action to boost planning skills including funding 513 bursaries for students to train as planners with over 300 more to follow," a spokesman said.

"Since 2003 we have provided £605m planning delivery grant to local authorities and increased planning fees so they can invest in training and staff."

But shadow local government minister Jacqui Lait said the government had "so overloaded the planning system with extra red tape and constant changes that planners are leaving the profession in droves".

"Those who remain are demotivated by the weight of interference from Whitehall," she said.