Housing
How we build 300,000 of the right homes in the right places We do not need a new planning system to build 300,000 of the right homes in the right places, we just need to enable deliverable permissions for the best practitioners, writes Rico Wojtulewicz, head of Housing and Planning Policy for the National Federation of Builders The right home in the right place means something different to every person but for most, it needs to be affordable, accessible and well built. Yet, over the past three decades, it has become more difficult to meet that ambition. Before 1990, house building was very different. Privately owned land was developed more liberally, councils were still building and many communities and estates were built by multiple housebuilders, all competing on price and quality. Winning work on reputation, the house building industry worked closely with councils and local people, who told them what was needed and where. Because of local connections, they mostly built the right homes in the right places and were the engine of placemaking. The ‘The Town and Country Planning Act 1990’ changed that by introducing a plan led system and making local planning authorities (LPA) the decision makers on land use. Market assessment by business was replaced by local authority knowledge, the professionalisation of planning permissions was firmly established and house builders became the tool, rather than the engine. At first, culture change kept housebuilders relatively close to their local authorities but as time wore on and new policies were introduced, a clearer divide was established. Opportunities remained but they were increasingly won by developers and land promoters, who understood that they now needed to secure allocated sites in local plans, not build homes. For housebuilders, the risk was now not in building a home people wanted to buy, but in competing for planning permission,
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Making this information more accessible whose location was determined by LPAs. would also allow a broader range of Many housebuilders struggled with this players to meet local need, while ensuring and in 2007, after the financial crash, 80 that placemaking was more informed. per cent of the UK’s smaller builders had ceased trading, taking with them a skilled Reforming planning workforce, many of whom retrained or retired. to focus on certainty This had a profound impact on the Placemaking entire housebuilding industry, as housing Councils identify a 5YLS and allocate sites associations, councils, self-builders and for development but in order to meet targets, cooperatives typically relied on smaller they have increasingly focused on larger sites. builders for their projects. With permissions Research by the House Builders Federation and builders in short supply, the 2012 (HBF) confirms that since 200, permissioned National Planning Policy Framework site sizes have increased by 17 per cent. (NPPF) further distanced housing need Windfall sites supplement the 5YLS, from supply by requiring councils to keep yet they’ve been increasingly dominated unproven five year land supplies (5YLS). by smaller builders, who struggle to In 2019, that unproven land supply has be part of the five year strategy. permitted over 423,000 homes, most of After many years of ‘placemaking’ with which are difficult to deliver or not full large sites, councils have run out of easy to applications. This approach must change and deliver opportunities. Many have by re-establishing market knowledge, been left with controversial, reforming planning to focus on undeliverable sites, supplying certainty and strengthening the hundreds or thousands regional economy, we can of homes but without get above and beyond the Houseb u the infrastructure 300,000 a year target. i l d ing capacit to support them. y w ill also be stren This jeopardises a Re-establishing 5YLS. Councils then market knowledge more im gthened but portant announce a ‘call Through digital surveying, will pla ly, so for sites’, which is working with the third c e making typically propped up by sector, housebuilders, another large, difficult businesses and residents, or phased development. LPAs must improve the As well as increased detail and representation of funding for planning their housing needs assessments. departments, the solution would For too long, assessments have be to work more closely with land focused on social housing and neglected owners, builders and homebuyers needs such as independent, supported, to build out our communities. family and adaptable housing.
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