INDUSTRYNEWS
Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB, sees small scale sites as key …“ I’ m pleased that the White Paper recognises the potential for SMEs to deliver far more homes than they do currently. In addition, it accurately identifies the key barriers to them doing so as land, planning and finance. Of these, finding small sites and then getting planning permission is the greatest single barrier. In too many places, the approach to planning for new homes has come to be focused almost entirely on large sites and large scale delivery. This approach has slowed down the delivery of homes, and has helped shape an uncompetitive house building industry and an unresponsive supply of housing – this has to end.
“ There is much that is good and sensible in the White Paper so let’ s use it as a launch pad for a real step change in delivery. It is in everyone’ s interest to see SMEs play a far greater role in house building and small sites are key to this.”
Rhian Kelly, Confederation of British Industry( CBI) Infrastructure Director, raises the point of public land release …
“ A quiet revolution is needed to shake up how business and the government deliver the UK’ s housing needs, so this White Paper is a welcome step in the right direction.
“ The intention to deliver a diverse mix of homes – especially affordable homes to rent – is particularly good news. We have called for the“ one size fits all” approach to housing to be ditched, and are glad to see a move to building the right homes in the right
places that fit the actual needs of people and communities.
“ It’ s encouraging the government is looking at how to make it easier for small and medium-sized businesses to succeed in the market. Taking a clearer, more strategic approach to public land release will also see more bricks being laid, so we welcome the government turning its eye to this developing area.”
Naomi Heaton, CEO of London Central Portfolio, however, has some criticism …
“ Sajid Javid’ s lacklustre announcement, and accompanying 104-page document, was an underwhelming response. Reiterating the grave problems facing the housing market, about which we are all too familiar, there was a distinct absence of any detailed implementation program.
Having lobbied the government on the inadequate supply of rental property, which became a scapegoat under George Osborne’ s tenure, LCP welcomed the sentiment to assist families within the Private Rented Sector as well as those wishing to buy their own homes. At last the government has woken up to the fact that not everyone aspires to homeownership, with an increasingly mobile workforce and a generational change in lifestyle.
For the first time, the government announced a relaxing of restrictions in their Affordable Homes Programme to include affordable rental property. They also, once again, propose to consult on longer tenancies on new build rental homes.
However, very little detail was included as to how these policies will be executed or enforced. These announcements simply do not go far enough to tackle the growing lack of PRS supply with a 1.8m shortfall anticipated by 2025, according to RICS. More information on the ban on letting agent’ s fees was also absent, which now is to be subject to consultation.
For developers, with an announcement of an increase up to 40 % in planning fees, the commercial nature of the industry is once again being overlooked, as is their crucial role in providing affordable housing. This is particularly worrying at a time when anecdotal evidence suggests a rapid slowing of building starts as buyer demand falls for more expensive homes due to the high levels of graduated Stamp Duty and the introduction of the Additional Rate. Whilst further investment into planning departments is welcome, developers also require support if they are to help deliver on government building objectives.
With only 163,940 housing completions in England in 2015-16, the government is a long way off the target of providing 1m new homes by 2020, promised by David Cameron. Not only do we have a housing crisis to meet right now, there is projected to be an additional 1.8m new households created by the end of this Parliament. Currently, the Government is not even standing still.
On the whole, the much-hyped Housing White paper appears to do very little to‘ fix our broken housing market’.”
Sources:“ Housing White Paper- GOV. UK”. Gov. uk. N. p., 2017. Web. 21 Feb. 2017.
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