Rayner planning reforms raise fears of expansion in traveller sites

Angela Rayner’s overhaul of planning rules has prompted warnings that local councils could lose control over the expansion of traveller sites across England, as ministers seek to accelerate housebuilding and loosen restrictions on development.

The housing secretary’s changes make it harder for councils and residents to oppose retrospective planning applications for unauthorised traveller sites. Officials have removed requirements for councils to consider potential environmental damage and whether a site would provide a settled base capable of reducing long-distance travelling.

Government guidance also acknowledges that the reforms could mean locations poorly connected to existing settlements become suitable for development.

The changes come against a backdrop of a sharp increase in unauthorised traveller caravans. The number recorded across England has risen by 73 per cent since January 2020, from 2,860 to 4,950.

The Conservatives have accused Labour of weakening planning enforcement. James Cleverly, the shadow housing secretary, said the country needed a planning system in which “everybody” played by the same rules.

The government rejected the criticism, arguing that the reforms strengthen rather than weaken action against unauthorised sites. A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said it was “completely misleading” to suggest otherwise and insisted the new rules continued to address environmental and transport impacts.

The dispute is part of a wider restructuring of England’s planning system by Labour, which is seeking to increase housing supply and meet its target of 1.5mn new homes by 2029.

Rayner has also proposed making development around railway stations easier and loosening restrictions on building in parts of the green belt. The measures are intended to remove barriers to construction as the government confronts weak housebuilding figures.

The scale of the challenge is substantial. Ministers have acknowledged that the 1.5mn target is a “stretching target”, while planning minister Matthew Pennycook has attributed some of the recent weakness in demand to the war in Iran.

For local authorities, however, the traveller-site reforms introduce another flashpoint in an already politically sensitive planning system, with councils facing pressure to accommodate new development while retaining limited powers to resist controversial applications.