Government puts housing crisis in spotlight but doubts remain

Secretary of State for Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC), Michael Gove MP, livestreamed a housing speech on Twitter where he outlined his long-term ten-point plan to “build a better Britain”.

Richard Beresford, Chief Executive of the National Federation of Builders (NFB), said it was a promising development to see positive housing policy back in public discourse.

However, he maintained that following a prolonged period that has seen previous planning reforms and policy statements, Mr Gove’s speech felt like “another tweak” which does not address the core reasons for the housing crisis.

Mr Gove’s ten-point plan focused on the following elements:

• Regenerating 20 of our most important towns and cities

• Supercharging Europe’s Science Capital (Cambridge)
• Building beautiful - and making architecture great again
• Building great public services into the heart of every community
• Communities taking back control of their future
• Greener homes, greener landscapes, and green belt protection
• A new deal for tenants and landlords
• Ensuring every home is safe, decent, and warm
• Liberating leaseholders
• Extending ownership to a new generation

The speech delved deeper into the ten points, citing how policies would achieve their ambition. For example, permitted development reforms to assist with regeneration, and an expert planning team to deliver spatial plans in Cambridge.

Rico Wojtulewicz, Head of Housing and Planning Policy at the House Builders Association (HBA) said: “Design codes, spatial placemaking for Cambridge, self and community build, more social housing, nutrient neutrality reforms, Office for Place, extra funding for planners, HomesEngland getting planning powers, and permitted development right reforms should all be applauded.

“These policies deliver a mechanism to fix a broken system through a mix of planning certainty, land use potential, tackling unfair regulations, and more homes delivered in local areas. Whilst these are good, substantive approaches, policies to fix the true cause of the housing crisis have been overlooked.

“Prescribing beauty through a pastiche prism does not enable more homes, nor does championing placemaking while protecting the greenbelt. The only way we achieve this is through land use policy, that acknowledges homes need infrastructure such as roads, shops, railways lines, schools, services, and jobs, to name a few. A blanket greenbelt protection continues the choice of ‘land use for homes or infrastructure’, which inevitably means one loses out.

“This issue is echoed in regeneration policies and gentle density in major cities, as land required for non-housing needs will be used for houses, and in the case of gentle density, too few of them. Consequently, non-housing needs will be delivered outside of communities or not at all.

“Mr Gove must recognise this when championing the London and Manchester density model, but he avoided mentioning that both chose to use greenbelt to implement placemaking successfully.

“His Cambridge model will be the first test of his placemaking vision as Conservative MP’s and local councils are already opposing his spatial planning and science superpower ambition, which has already been watered down through significant changes to the governments approach to the Ox Cam Arc.

“Although it is fantastic to see housing and planning back in discussion, it is election season. Until we know who the next government is and what other parties might be proposing, we should not expect to see an end to the housing crisis. What we can be certain about is that small and medium-sized housebuilders will have to wait a few more years to see what a fixed planning system looks like for them, and for many, this will likely be too late.”

The Government’s 10 point for housing is a much-needed boost to help build more homes but new homes are needed in every village, town, and city and not just selected urban areas, says the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).

Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB said: “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.

“The recommitment to ‘building beautiful’ is positive. The FMB has consistently highlighted that it is the small, local house builders that are best placed to truly deliver on this ambition. They build quality, local homes that reflect their communities’ needs which is why the Government’s focus on urban areas needs to be balanced with the need to address housing shortages in our rural communities.”