The government’s decision to revise its planning reforms in England, following a backlash amongst many Conservative MPs, has been welcomed by Navana Property Group.

The head of the company, which invests in and manages property developments across the UK, has described the government’s U-turn as a positive one, particularly for northern cities which will now see more housing investment than originally planned.

A computer-based formula used to decide where residential properties should be located has been updated to focus more on cities and urban areas in northern areas and in the Midlands, away from rural and semi-rural communities in the South East.

But it is not yet clear what impact this will have on the government’s aim to build 300,000 new homes across England each year by the mid-2020s, including a sufficient number of affordable homes, given the limited supply of brownfield sites.

Harry Fenner, CEO of Navana Property Group, commented: “This is certainly a positive U-turn from the government. The new formula will help to stimulate the urban residential sector. They have changed the planning emphasis away from more rural parts of the South East towards brownfield sites in the Midlands and the North. This will bring further investment into urban centres and help to level up the disparity between north and south. For northern cities in particular, which have historically lost out on funding compared to southern England, I’m sure this is welcome news indeed.

“The plans to invest in more family homes in cities, whilst making the most of vacant buildings and under-used land makes sense after the patterns we have witnessed this year. One of the consequences of the Covid pandemic was to speed up the decline of retail as people shop increasingly online. It also made cities and town centres quiet as people worked from home, leaving offices empty.

“However, residential in city centres has continued to thrive. Even during the midst of lockdown, we saw some of the highest real estate prices paid for prime London stock. It’s true this year has seen a rise in flexible working and increased desires for green space, but there will always be an appetite for city living, and these changes will help to satisfy that demand.”