Proposed reforms to planning policy in England don’t go far enough, claims a regional boss of one of the largest privately owned housing groups in the UK.

Although Richard Sarraff, managing director of Bloor Homes’ South Midlands region, welcomes the Government’s ambition “to tackle the bureaucracy and red tape which is holding back the pace of development” he believes the reforms have some way to go to be fully effective.

The Bloor group is currently building 60 developments across the country including two major sites in Bucks and two on the Bucks/Oxfordshire border.

Measures set out in the Government’s recently launched consultation document include speeding up the decision making process, introducing new quality standards and more effective use of land.

In a written statement, the regional boss for Bloor Homes stresses the importance of ensuring quality is not compromised by boosting the target for the number of new homes built each year to 300,000.

He says his company has made a substantial investment in the business to enable it to increase output.

“But as developers we can only do so much,” Mr Sarraff states. “For too long the delivery of much needed new housing has been constrained by a convoluted and overly bureaucratic planning system.

“The Government’s proposals to streamline the process and accelerate decision making are long overdue and extremely welcome but more still needs to be done to speed up the approval of related matters such as highways, ecology and archaeology which are required to commence development.

“Creating a more transparent planning process in which local authorities are held to account for the number of new homes they deliver and where developer contributions are clear from the outset can only be a good thing for housebuilders, councils and the wider community.

“The Government’s focus on maximising the use of land by prioritising redundant brownfield sites and avoiding building homes at low densities in areas of high demand seems a sensible approach.

“However it is vital that developers do not lose sight of their commitment to deliver high quality neighbourhoods which provide areas of green open space so it’s encouraging to see that the proposals include new quality standards for the design and build of new homes.

“Similarly we welcome the balanced and flexible approach taken to development in the green belt which will ensure the continued protection of our valuable green spaces while allowing homes to be built on brownfield land where they would improve the visual character of the location.”

Bloor Homes is celebrating its half centenary this year. The company is currently building two-, three-, four- and five-bedroom houses including a few bungalows at Mandeville Park off Lower Road in Stoke Mandeville (no prices yet) and three and four bedroom houses priced from £400,000 on the Winslow Grange development in the north Bucks village of Winslow.

Two years ago, before building work started on the Bloor development in Thame, archaeologists discovered remains of prehistoric monuments and settlements going back to the Neolithic period during a seven month excavation of the historic Oxford Road site (pictured).

The dig was described by experts from Oxford Cotswold Archaeology as one of the most significant in 2016, underlining the need for local authorities to take account of related issues that need to be factored into the planning schedule as cited in the statement by Bloor Homes’ regional MD.

This weekend three five-bedroom houses on the Thame Meadows development are available at prices from £525,000-£925,000.

Also available this weekend are three bedroom houses priced from £400,000 being built by the same developer on the Windmill Chase site in Mill Lane, Chinnor.

A group of three and four year olds from the local Windmill Nursery were invited by the sales team to come up with a colourful planting scheme for the troughs and hanging baskets outside the show homes. “They had a fantastic time getting their hands dirty to bring their ideas to life. The end results looked great,” laughed teacher Amanda Payne.

*House prices rose 1.8 per cent during the 12 months to the end of March in the Nationwide Building Society’s outer metropolitan area which includes Bucks. By comparison values in London fell one percent.

The society’s chief economist Robert Gardner commented: “Over the past two years the southern English regions have seen a steady deceleration in price growth which is now running at its slowest pace since 2012. By contrast the northern English regions have recorded a gradual acceleration.”

Despite the narrowing of the north-south divide property values in the north are still less than half what you pay down south. A typical house in the north now costs £163,138 compared with £331,047 in the south.