● The planning system has become too complex and the revisions to theNational Planning Policy Framework risk exacerbating the situation.The principle of a clear general presumption in favour of sustainabledevelopment that has equal weight to other considerations, includingthe Development Plan, must be reintroduced.● The Planning Inspectorate appears to be under extreme pressure. Theincreased involvement of outside specialists and a sitting mediationservice would help to resolve the problems and speed up decisions.● All Green Belt boundaries should be reviewed, starting with those areasthat do not have an adequate land supply for the next ten years to meetknown population requirements. An early release of Green Belt wouldhelp to meet the urgent need for housing in and around Birmingham,Manchester and London. The most sustainable areas will be withinwalking distance of railway or underground stations.● There is enough Green Belt land within the confines of Greater London– 32,500 hectares – to build 1.6 million houses at average densities. Ifonly a tenth of this land were used for new housing that would represent160,000 new homes – a significant response to the urgent housingcrisis in the capital.● The government should introduce legislation to enable the settingup of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) as an appropriate deliverymechanism for new integrated and sustainable communities with amix of housing types and tenures, for example, homes for sale, privaterental, housing association accommodation and more specialised typessuch as sheltered accommodation for the elderly.● As recommended in a House of Lords select committee report intothe housing market, a senior Cabinet Minister should be given overallresponsibility for identifying and coordinating the release of public landfor housing.● The Government Property Unit in the Cabinet Office needs to up itsgame and accelerate progress with its Government Estate Strategy,notably in respect of the One Public Estate programme which appearsto have made lamentable progress as far as land sales are concerned.● Given the slow progress so far made on public land disposals,consideration should be given to allowing a private sector bodypermission to apply to acquire public sector land under the CompensationCode and serve a Disposal Order to achieve such a transfer. This mightprove particularly relevant where this relates to land where a localauthority has already granted planning permission.● There is a strong case to use land promotion partners whereadditional expertise and funding is judged necessary to unlock sitesfor development. Promoters can supply ‘shovel-ready’ sites into theland market, speeding up the delivery of new homes.● Small housebuilders have a particularly important role to play inconstructing homes on small sites owned by the public sector. Recentlyannounced loan guarantees by the government may prove pivotal indelivering new homes. Small sites should be exempt from CIL andSection 106 payments except in relation to issues of safety. Smallhousebuilders should be enabled to use the Disposal Order system tobring forward sites. These entrepreneurs must be enabled to contributefully to resolving the housing crisis.