Autumn Budget submission 2025

About the RTPI

At the Royal Town Planning Institute (the RTPI), the organisation champions the value of planning in building thriving places and communities. With over 27,000 members worldwide, it supports planners at every stage of their career: raising professional standards, shaping planning policy, and proudly awarding chartered status, the highest professional accreditation in UK planning. 

For over a century, the RTPI has empowered planners to deliver positive impact: creating healthy, inclusive, economically and environmentally sustainable places. As the voice of the profession, it advocates, supports, and leads with purpose, professionalism, and passion.  

Summary

The Government has set out its expectations for the planning system as intrinsically linked with the delivery of its growth ambitions, including the development of 1.5 million homes, the delivery of nationally significant infrastructure projects, alongside a key role in implementing a new strategic approach to nature recovery. 

Whilst the RTPI has been supportive of the Government’s commitment to planning reform and devolution agenda, there is a clear need for additional investment into the planning system in order to effectively deliver ambitions. 

In anticipation of the Autumn Budget 2025, the RTPI has detailed three key funding considerations for HM Treasury. 

1. Support strategic authorities with the estimated £62.7million to £147.2 million cost of preparing Spatial Development Strategies (SDSs) as outlined in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill Impact Assessment. 
   
   
2. Reinstate local authority planning policy funding to 2010 levels with an additional £136.7million funding into “other planning policy”, to speed up local plan preparation and thereby increase local plan coverage.
   
   
3. Mitigate the anticipated reduction in planning capacity due to Level 7 apprenticeship funding changes through an alternative funding provision of £27,983,600 to fully fund part-time master’s bursaries with funded work placements for 400 planners, over the remainder of this Parliament.

Spatial Development Strategy preparation

The RTPI has whole-heartedly supported the reintroduction of strategic planning as set out in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill (PIB). The PIB introduces a duty for strategic plans, called SDSs, to be produced by strategic planning authorities.  

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government’s (MHCLG) own impact assessment of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill outlines the estimated potential costs to the public sector to prepare SDSs. MHCLG expects there will be 30 to 40 SDSs and that these plans will be completed in 2028 to 2029, subject to timings and the passage of the PIB. 

The impact assessment sets out the expectation that the production of a typical strategic plan will involve two assistant planners, one senior planner, one principal planner and a planning manager. The total cost of producing an SDS to the public sector combines the internal cost (including internal staff costs) as well as external costs. 

For each scenario, MHCLG multiplied their estimate of the number of SDSs by their estimate of the cost of producing an SDS, which yielded a total public sector cost of £62.7 million to £147.2 million.  

There is also expected to be a significant cost to the Planning Inspectorate in examining additional plans in a fairly concentrated time frame. 

Ultimately, SDSs will form the backbone of the work of strategic authorities, guiding and informing all the actions they take in relation to spatial development. Appropriate central Government funding to resource the development of SDSs needs to be in place to for SDSs to be prepared to ensure even and comprehensive coverage of SDSs before the end of this Parliament, as is the expectation of Government.  

HM Treasury needs to allocate £147.2 million in funding for all strategic authorities to be financially supported to prepare an SDS to get access to the full suite of planning and revenue generating powers as set out in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. Whilst not every combined authority will progress with their SDS preparation at the same rate, fully considered funding from central Government will be essential in ensuring that areas do not fall behind and existing regional inequalities are exacerbated. 

A failure to effectively undertake strategic planning and move forward in a plan-led system due to a lack of available funding for SDS preparation will greatly impact the Government’s growth ambition and devolution agenda. 

Invest in the plan-led approach locally

In England’s plan-led system, the rules about what can be built and where are set out principally in local plans prepared by councils. However, the speed, coverage and quality of these preparations have been inconsistent across the country and have received significant attention in recent planning reforms. The RTPI recognises that progress and adoption of a local plan takes on average seven years to produce, with only around one third of local planning authorities having adopted a local plan in the last five years. We understand it is the Government’s is determined to make rapid progress toward universal local plan coverage, with the intention for local plans to be produced within a 30 month time-frame. The Housing and Planning Minister has stated that “the plan-led approach is, and must remain, the cornerstone of our planning system”. Whilst in the long-term, the introduction of SDSs and a reformed local plan-making process may make efficiencies, without effective resourcing, the Government will not achieve full local plan coverage as intended. 

National policy reforms can create uncertainty and risks in plan-making. Research commissioned by the RTPI has found that local planning authorities can face delays when adapting to changes in national planning policy. Delays are also caused by the need to navigate contentious debates over housing numbers and land use, as well as the attempt to align plans with uncertain transport and other infrastructure investments.  

As demonstrated in analysis by Lichfields, the number of local plans submitted and adopted in recent years has been low compared to 2012. During this same time period, local government and their planning teams have been consistently underfunded, with a knock on effect on recruitment and retention. As a result, the planning policy teams responsible for local plan development are already at or nearing capacity. While we commend the government’s ambition to institute a new local plan process, this will take time and work to get to grips with. If the government wants local plan teams to work at the pace envisioned, they need to be properly funded to do so.  

Whilst the entire planning system has been subject to disinvestment since 2009, planning policy as a function has been disproportionately affected by these cuts. Total expenditure on ‘other planning policy’ across England (cost code 338 in revenue outturn tables) was around £385.6m in financial year ending 2025, down from £542.3m in FYE 2010 (adjusted for inflation). This is a reduction of 28.8% in real terms.  

Whilst we recognise that the Government have previously announced nearly £20million in funding to support local authorities with local plan delivery for those at Regulation 18 and Regulation 19 stage, there is a need for comprehensive and consistent investment into planning policy in order to reach the Government’s local plan coverage goals. To achieve universal local plan coverage and provide the certainty and confidence for the sector to bring forward the growth agenda across the country, the RTPI suggests in addition to the aforementioned existing funding stream, a £136.7million investment into “other planning policy”, to bring total planning policy investment in line with the 2010 levels of funding at a minimum. 

The benefits of universal plan coverage to society and businesses are expected to significantly outweigh the above cost, improving in investor confidence through development certainty and shaping successful places due to quality place-making principles being instilled from the beginning. 

Urgent support for the education and workforce crisis in the English planning sector

The RTPI has expressed our grave concerns with the implication of Level 7 apprenticeship funding restrictions to those students aged 16-21. The Chartered Town Planner L7 Apprenticeship has been supporting approximately 200 planners a year into the profession, with around 70% of apprentices being employed in local government.  

The Department for Education (DfE) has estimated that only 17% of current Chartered Town Planner degree apprentices would be eligible for funding via the Growth and Skills Levy once the age restrictions apply. This is reducing our annual number of entrants into the profession by at least 166 planners a year, whilst also threatening the viability of courses at 11 Planning Schools. Over half of England’s Planning Schools could be jeopardised by these changes. 

Responding to the RTPI’s State of the Profession 2025 survey (due to be published in November 2025), 75% of local authority respondents anticipate some impact from the changes in funding to Level 7 apprenticeships. 60% anticipated a major or moderate impact on their planning authority. 

Our research has identified a potential impending demographic issue within the profession, with a significant proportion (57.5%) of local authority planners being over the age of 45. This underscores the need to secure a diverse pipeline of new planners into the profession. 

The RTPI have previously made calls to MHCLG for immediate intervention to support the viability of Chartered Town Planner Level 7 Apprenticeship courses. Most recently we wrote a letter to the Housing and Planning Minister, co-signed by 33 organisations from across planning, housing, nature, energy and heritage, calling for an investment of £6.8 million to support our Planning Schools to continue delivering the Chartered Town Planner L7 Apprenticeship for up to 400 students over the remainder of this Parliament.  

As this intervention has not been made, there is an increasing need to fund an alternative provision to ensure that the number of planners entering the profession remains at current levels. 

Existing planning workforce demand

According to the RTPI’s State of the Profession research, public spending on planning in England contracted by 16.6% between 2009/10 and 2025/6. 

There have been efforts by Government to address capacity concerns within the planning sector, with a commitment to recruitment of an additional 300 planning officers by the end of 2026 through Pathways to Planning and Public Practice. Research has identified that there is an existing gap between the additional recruitment figure announced by Government and what is currently needed. 

• The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government’s own Local Authority Planning Capacity and Skills Survey 2023 stated that the vast majority (91%) of planning departments reported having had difficulty recruiting for at least some roles in the last 12 months. Such a percentage extrapolated across England would work out as approximately 298 local planning authorities reporting recruitment difficulties. Most of these planning departments also reported having multiple vacancies. 

• Recent research by Unison suggests that around another 600 planners on top of the Treasury’s figure are in fact needed, with 884 vacancies identified nationally and 80% of local planning authorities operating below full capacity. 

• The Home Builders’ Federation goes further to estimate that there is a national shortage of over 2,200 planners across England and Wales. 

• The British Property Federation has called for 3,000 additional planners to support the development ambitions of both commercial and residential investors. 

Across all of these pieces of work it is evident that the 300 additional officers figure is not nearly enough to address existing capacity constraints, let alone emerging workforce demands. 

Future workforce demand

The demand for planners will extend and increase past the end of 2026 (when the 300 additional officers should be in post). The Government’s ambitious growth agenda will increase the number of planners needed across the country generally. 

• The Home Builders’ Federation report Planning on Empty, assesses that to achieve the Government’s planning ambitions, the planning skills gap in local authorities may be as much as 7,500 full-time equivalent officers. 

• Additionally, the impending increase in demand for planning services has been reflected in modelling work undertaken by the Local Government Association on anticipated cost pressures for local government. This work reported an anticipated additional 6.2% spending need in planning and development services from 2026/27 compared to 2024/25.  

• The Government’s growth agenda will not just require planners in local authorities, but capacity in the private sector, statutory consultees, the Planning Inspectorate and the rejuvenated ATLAS service. 

• Emerging or expanding aspects of the planning system, such as development corporations and SDSs will also require planning workforce. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill impact assessment has identified that the preparation of emerging SDSs could require 150-200 new planners. This is paired alongside workforce demands from the Government to expedite and improve local plan coverage and establish more development corporations.   

Funding needed to fill the short-term gap in the number of planners entering the system

To help mitigate the anticipated reduction in capacity due to Level 7 apprenticeship funding changes, we are calling for an alternative funding provision of £27,983600 to fully fund part-time master’s bursaries with funded work placements for 400 planners, over the remainder of this Parliament. 

Average cost of undertaking a part-time planning MA/MSc in England:  £10,959	For 400 planners =	£4,383,600
Average starting salary in a local authority for a two-year period:  £29,500 x 2 years = £59000		£23,600,000
Total:		£27,983,600

The above funding will help to maintain the existing number of planning graduates entering the profession, despite changes to Level 7 apprenticeship funding, but as previously detailed there is an urgent need to address the anticipated increase and changes in workforce and skills demands for planners due to the Government’s programme of work and growth ambitions. 

To ensure the long-term sustainability of the planning profession, we need to ensure that investment in planning education and skills meets the ambitions of Government. The only way to ensure this is to develop a long-term workforce and skills strategy. 

The Institute understands that a planning sector skills strategy is not currently envisaged or in production; we would argue it would form an integral part of the Government’s construction strategy. The Skills England Assessment of Priority Skills to 2030 guidance  states that “Chartered architectural technologists, planning officers and consultants are assumed to all work within the construction sector regardless of Standard Industry Classification (SIC), as all are assumed to be integral to construction.” This further asserts the need for planning to be included in any forthcoming construction workforce strategy.