Growing Communities (formerly know as Building Futures) is committed to promoting the benefits that development and regeneration bring to local communities and the UK economy.

We are a new organisation made up of commercial developers, home builders and housing associations campaigning for more certainty and clarity in the planning process.

We aim to contribute to the debate about planning and development policy in the UK. In partnership with a range of stakeholders, we work to identify and suggest ways of removing barriers to development in the UK. This enables our members to promote an agenda for growth which will allow the UK to support the development industry to create homes, employment opportunities and attract investment to the UK.

As we move towards a General Election in 2010, all political parties will be putting forward plans for further planning reform. Growing Communities welcomes this and aims to ensure that the reform is helpful and beneficial for all stakeholders. This is vital in guaranteeing that the desire to involve local people in planning decisions is fully integrated with the needs of the wider UK economy and creating jobs for the future.

With the UK’s population set to rise to nearly 72 million within the next 24 years, we are still not building enough homes. While in the last 12 months, housing output has been impacted by the recession, even in the boom times house building levels were still at a lower rate than in previous decades. In addition, a growing population will require additional job opportunities and will rely on more companies being attracted to establish and grow their businesses in the UK. In order for them to do this, they will require leading-edge high quality business space at convenient, well-connected locations across the UK

In recent years there have been efforts to improve the planning system which we welcome. Growing Communities believes that planning policy and localism can be shaped to meet local communities’ housing and employment needs, as well as protecting green spaces and enabling people to determine the future of their communities.