An 18-month review into the failings of England’s planning system has concluded that it has become a “chaotic patchwork” of responsibilities with the de-regulated conversion of offices into new homes a high-profile symptom of decline.

Former Labour housing, planning and consruction minister Nick Raynsford launched the revew – conducted for the Town and Country Planning Association, of which he is president – in May last year with a view to influencing reform from 2020.

The just-published final report says people no longer perceive councils – where local planning departments are based – as able to protect the public interest, and that the economic gain of landowners and developers takes precedence.

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