<p>The government’s planning reforms mark a “significant reform package” despite various proposals from the Planning White Paper being dropped, according to Matthew Spry, senior director of planning and consultancy firm Lichfields.</p><p>Speaking at the Home Builders Federation’s Policy Conference held in London yesterday (May 12), Spry said that the new Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, containing the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ (DLUHC) planning intentions in absence of an originally intended Planning Bill, no longer featured the “big zoning proposals” of the Planning White Paper consultation of 2020.</p><p>But, he said, “if you look objectively”, the government was still taking forward other white paper proposals as well as those included in the Housing White Paper of 2017.</p><p>The new Bill, set to introduce an Infrastructure Levy to replace section 106 agreements, design codes, methods to simplify local plans and “street votes”, would yield a “number” of consultations, Spry said. “There does seem to have been a perpetual revolution in planning for the last few years but the industry needs to be ready to engage in the debate on whether what’s proposed will deliver homes in the areas needed.”</p><p>He urged: “I implore you to look at these consultations as they will impact …