A number of measures have been proposed to help smaller builders tackle the regulatory and financial challenges that come with building on smaller sites - which the government say will help deliver the goal of 1.5 million new homes. Measures include streamlined decision making for planning small developments of up to nine houses; simpler rules for medium sized sites between 10 and 49 houses, including an exemption to the Building Safety Levy; more land released by Homes England to SME builders and a new housing fund to unlock new long-term finance options; and smaller pilot sites in Bristol, Sheffield abnd KLondon to free up land that would otherwise not have been built upon for social housing.
Rayner said: “Smaller housebuilders must be the bedrock of our Plan for Change to build 1.5 million homes and fix the housing crisis we’ve inherited – and get working people on the housing ladder. For decades the status quo has failed them and it’s time to level the playing field."
“Today we’re taking urgent action to make the system simpler, fairer and more cost effective, so smaller housebuilders can play a crucial role in our journey to get Britain building.”
Melanie Leech CBE, Chief Executive, British Property Federation, said:
“To get anywhere near 1.5m new homes by 2029, reversing the decline of SME builders must be a key objective for the Government and Ministers should be commended for acting. But solving the housing delivery challenge is bigger than SMEs alone, which is why we also need the volume builders, housing associations and build to rent developers to play their part, as well as a pragmatic approach to tacking the viability challenge. Therefore, we are pleased to see Government considering targeted exemptions from the Building Safety Levy and Biodiversity Net Gain requirements. We recognise the importance of funding for building safety and biodiversity standards - but know that the cumulative impact of the various charges imposed on new developments is creating a viability crisis. Government is right to reconsider them where they are hampering new housing delivery and also explore the benefits of PropTech in identifying and unlocking opportunities. Likewise, the potential for smaller-scale schemes to be determined by planning officers will free up planning committee time, allowing council decision-makers more time to focus on larger, more complex planning applications, hopefully leading to better decisions.”
Paul Rickard, Chief Executive, Pocket Living, said:
“For the first time in many years, we’re seeing clear signals that an administration recognises the critical role SME housebuilders play in tackling the housing crisis. We’re delighted to see several of the recommendations we've worked with the Government on reflected in today’s announcements. SMEs can be disproportionately affected by policy and support targeted specifically at SMEs will help to reverse the decline of our sector, help level the playing field, and once again make SMEs the backbone for high quality local housing delivery across the nation.”
However, some warned of unintended consequences. Fergus Charlton, planning partner at national law firm Michelmores LLP, comments:
“Only last week at UKREiiF in Leeds small house builders were advocating that they were both lost in the complexity of the planning system and fearful of the combination of speculative planning costs and planning uncertainty. These proposed changes will help those smaller businesses.
“Balancing the costs and benefits of planning decisions is undoubtably tricky as there will be intended impactful consequences on local democracy and to local nature recovery.
“There will also be unintended consequences of setting threshold triggers above which full requirements of the planning system apply, with developers purposefully under-developing sites on the boundaries of these thresholds providing lower housing densities to take advantage of the relaxed rules.”
