The Government will release land to build new homes and streamline the planning system, Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng (main picture) has pledged.

He said land owned by the Government will be freed up for new build ahead of reforms to be announced soon.

Investment zones are to be created in 38 areas in England, with accelerated planning arrangements.

“To increase housing supply and enable forthcoming planning reforms, we will also increase the disposal of surplus government land to build new homes,” Kwarteng said in his Mini Budget speech.

“We are getting out of the way to get Britain building.”

The Government says in its ‘Growth Plan 2022’ that Kwarteng unveiled: “The need for planning applications will be minimised, and where planning applications remain necessary, they will be radically streamlined.”

Changes to the system, which is regarded as slow and burdened with red tape, will be welcomed by the property industry.

Jeremy Leaf (pictured), north London estate agent and a former RICS residential chairman, says: “The ambition to reduce planning red tape and improve delivery is particularly interesting because if there is one thing we need more than anything it is additional affordable housing to sell and to rent.

“Nothing is more frustrating than gaining planning permission for suitable schemes and then waiting sometimes more than a year for work to begin as often unnecessary regulation needs dealing with.”

Overhaul needed

Stuart Law (pictured), CEO of the Assetz Group of property and financial services companies, says: “We have long needed an overhaul of our overbearing planning system, which dramatically restricts our ability to build more homes.

“The planning reforms proposed today should therefore be broadly welcomed, although we have seen proposals of this nature come forward before many times, only for them to be kicked into the long grass.

“Investment zones which cut planning red tape will lower the cost of development in these areas, allow industry to build more homes, more quickly, in the places that need them most, and help to tackle stark regional inequalities that have persisted for far too long across the UK,” he adds.

The Chancellor also cut stamp duty rates for first-time buyers, and raised the threshold to £250,000.

Income tax will be cut from 20p to 19p in April next year, and a rise in national insurance has been abandoned.

More information on Investment Zones and the full list of selected areas can be found here