First words
WELCOME
Welcome to the eleventh edition of Housebuild Magazine.
Michael Parinchy Chair of HBA
In my previous foreword, I wrote that“ warm words are no longer enough”. Looking back over the six months from March to September, that warning has become more urgent.
Across UK housebuilding, the fundamental test remains whether a competent local builder can secure consent, finance a development and deliver homes at a viable return. In England, August’ s recognition of medium sites of 10 – 49 homes represents welcome progress, rightly acknowledged by the NFB. Yet the accompanying withdrawal of the proposed option to provide cash instead of on-site affordable housing illustrates the persistent reluctance to follow reform through to its practical conclusion. Meanwhile, the HBF’ s June survey recorded deteriorating confidence, with viability overtaking planning delays as the leading supply constraint. Government deserves credit for listening where it has listened; it cannot claim success while the commercial foundations of delivery continue to weaken.
The contradiction is particularly stark in environmental and regulatory policy. August’ s English biodiversity net gain exemption for sites of 0.2 hectares or less, subject to safeguards for priority habitats, is a useful correction. September’ s draft Norfolk Environmental Delivery Plan also offers a potentially more rational approach to nutrient mitigation. But Matthew Pennycook’ s enthusiasm for the Nature Restoration Fund must be judged against implementation: Norfolk’ s plan remains under consultation, and the fund does not remove separate BNG obligations. Meanwhile, England’ s Building Safety Levy is due on 1 October, with developments below ten dwellings exempt but many SME schemes exposed. In August’ s HBF survey, 36 % of respondents said they had already delayed, redesigned or cancelled schemes because of it. A Government promising housing growth while imposing costs that discourage investment owes the industry a considerably better explanation than another announcement.
Local administration must face equally uncomfortable scrutiny. Wherever repeated information requests, fragmented consultation and protracted condition discharge consume a project’ s contingency, planning becomes an unmanaged commercial liability. Under-resourcing deserves a remedy; administrative drift deserves accountability. Ministers cannot announce reform in Westminster and leave its effectiveness dependent upon whether an individual authority chooses to embrace it. I want properly funded planning teams, named officers accountable for coordinating decisions, proportionate validation requirements and enforceable timetables covering the entire journey to a buildable consent. Performance should measure elapsed time, including agreed extensions, with effective escalation where authorities repeatedly fail. Local democratic scrutiny must operate within clear policy and evidence. It should never provide political cover for indefinite obstruction. Every avoidable month carries financing costs, postpones employment and weakens the next investment decision; the authority causing that delay rarely bears its financial consequences.
The next six months must deliver a coherent settlement for smaller builders. Local plans should provide a dependable supply of deliverable small sites, and public land should be offered in parcels that regional firms can realistically acquire. Government should require cumulative viability testing of its regulatory demands, infrastructure charges and affordable housing obligations: individually defensible policies can collectively make development impossible. Environmental requirements should reflect ecological impact and development scale, with transparent costs and workable routes for constrained brownfield sites. Affordable housing needs funded purchasers and flexible delivery agreements, while SME finance must accommodate realistic development timescales. Across the devolved systems, the objective should be consistent: certainty sufficient to invest, recruit and train. The HBA will continue to bring practical solutions to the table. But our members cannot build homes out of ministerial ambition. A housing policy that destroys the businesses expected to deliver it is a failure of government.
Michael Parinchy Senior Construction Manager
Issue 22 | 2026 47