The Secretary of State for Housing Michael Gove has announced that the Government will be focusing on housebuilding in cities rather than greenfield sites, and that it will retain the “optional” 300,000 new homes per year target.
In an announcement designed to assuage fears of Conservative voters around building on greenfield sites, Gove said that the Government was concentrating its biggest efforts in the hearts of our cities,” and would be “using all of the levers that we have to promote urban regeneration, rather than “swallowing up virgin land.”
Gove said the Government had acknowledged there was “a need for radical action to unlock the supply of new homes” due to global economic pressures.
The Secretary of State announced the Government will invest £24m to train planning authorities in order to free up the log jam of projects seeking permission. He also said that £13.5m would be allocated for a “super squad” of planners to unblock key projects, with the first such scheme being a major residential scheme in Cambridge. In addition, developers will be asked to pay bigger fees with the proceeds being used to fund improvements to the planning system.
The Secretary of State for Housing said that the Government would meet its pledge of building 1 million new homes before the next General Election, as well as delivering over 100,000 affordable homes. Under questioning, he said that the 300,000 homes target was “never mandatory,” and “remains as it has always been.”
Gove however added there would be changes to the National Planning Policy Framework which will allow councils flexibility on delivering housing, according to their local requirements. The changes will allow them “to take particular account of environmental constraints when meeting the numbers that the standard model produces,” said Gove.
Brian Berry, chief executive of the FMB responded to the news: “A plan for more housing is very welcome and hopefully it will go some way to get housing numbers back on track. It’s positive to see a focus on brownfield sites which are the mainstay of SME house builders, but the planning system also needs to be fixed to ensure that these developments become a reality. Too many SME house builders are stuck in planning purgatory which stops the delivery of housing and employment opportunities in their communities.”
Maria Hudson, CMO at construction software specialists Zutec said that tech would be essential to helping developers “ease the legal and legislative pressure,” and that “ramping up construction should never come at the cost of quality.” She added: “Yes, things like Part L, the BSA and the recently introduced second staircase requirement will make the build process longer, but are essential to achieve the safe and sustainable homes people rightly expect.”
Verity Davidge, director of policy at Make UK Modular commented: “These policies only begin to scratch the surface, and we need to see more ambitious reforms to housing. Lowering stamp duty for EPC A rated homes and allocating a higher proportion of the affordable housing programme to modular would unleash the potential of a dynamic and innovative sector.”