Thousands of much needed homes for the West Midlands are being lost and delayed due to late plan-making, according to a new report from planning and development consultancy Lichfields.

The ‘Perfect Storm’ Insight report considers what impacts the pace of change in the planning system has had on plan-making in the West Midlands, highlighting the impact on the future delivery of homes across one of the biggest and most important urban areas in the country.

The report finds that while some local planning authorities have met their needs, at least seven LPAs are identified as likely to fail to meet their housing needs in the five-year period 2020-2025. This reflects around 16,500 homes being lost over the same period and equates to the under-delivery of new homes for over 40,000 people in the West Midlands region alone.

Lichfields says the impact of all the ‘lost’ housing delivery in the region is having a severe economic impact; they have calculated that in excess of £2.5bn capital investment has been lost over the 2020 to 2025 period.

It also found that some 55,000 houses on draft-allocated housing land, and 730ha of draft-allocated employment land, are being held up from delivery across the region as a result of delayed Local Plans, with the impact of this being that the delivery of homes for over 130,000 people and as high as 85,000 jobs have been delayed by years.