Government Announces “Default Yes” for Train Station Housing: A Plan for Accelerated Home Delivery, Streamlined Consultations, and Enhanced Intervention Powers
On 18 November 2025, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Housing Secretary (Steve Reed), and Chancellor of the Exchequer (Rachel Reeves) announced proposals to accelerate the delivery of homes around well-connected train stations across England.
This package forms part of the Government’s wider ‘Plan for Change’, focused on boosting productivity, unlocking growth, and meeting previously announced aspiration to deliver 1.5 million homes. The measures are also intended to reduce planning delays, strengthen certainty for developers, and ensure more high-quality, affordable homes come forward in sustainable locations.
The key measures are summarised below.
Default “Yes” for Development Near Stations
A new “default yes” will apply to housing schemes located near well-connected train stations where they meet set criteria. This is intended to encourage housebuilding in sustainable locations, shorten planning timescales, and expand access to jobs, services, and transport for working families.
The policy will apply across all local authorities, including within certain Green Belt areas where the Government believes regeneration benefits are significant. Minimum housing density standards will also be introduced, expected to be exceeded on many sites, to make the most of sustainable growth opportunities.
Greater Intervention Powers for the Housing Secretary
Councils will now be required to notify the Government when they intend to refuse housing applications of 150 homes or more. The Housing Secretary will have the power to intervene and make the final decision, with particular focus on applications where a planning committee intends to refuse it contrary to the advice of planning officers.
Applications called in by ministers will also be sped up through the removal of mandatory requirement for public inquiries, allowing decisions to be reached through written representations where appropriate, and as a result, speeding up the determination process.
Streamlining Statutory Consultations
A second phase of planning reform will reduce the number of applications that must be considered by certain statutory consultees by up to 40%. Proposals include removing Sport England, The Gardens Trust, and Theatres Trust from the list of organisations requiring consultation by law.
This is intended to cut time and administrative burden for developers and planning authorities while ensuring essential consultees remain engaged on relevant matters.
Building on Platform4 and Brownfield Development
These reforms support ongoing work through Platform4, the new government-backed property company targeting delivery of 40,000 homes on brownfield land near train stations. Early sites being taken forward by Platform 4 include Newcastle Forth Goods Yard and Manchester Mayfield.
Conclusion
These measures signal a significant shift towards sustainable, transport-oriented growth, giving developers greater certainty and enabling the Government to intervene where locally led delays threaten to undermine housing delivery.
Further announcements to accelerate housebuilding are expected before the end of the year. We will continue to monitor these proposals on behalf of our clients.
The full press article can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/housebuilding-around-train-stations-will-be-given-default-yes
If you have any questions regarding upcoming sites or would like support preparing a consultation response, please contact the Firstplan team.
Article prepared by: Charlie Vann-Nicholls
Contact: info@firstplan.co.uk
