Development of New Homes Being Held Up By Local Councils
Latest figures from the housing pipeline report have revealed that the number of new homes being developed in England has increased but smaller developments are being held up by local councils.
By the Home Builders Federation, the report showed permission was given for 76,242 homes in the third quarter of last year though also shows that local authorities are focusing on large sites.
The Home Builders Federation says that many conditions, such as the Local Authority needing to approve a final children’s play area design, should not be holding up building work and could be agreed once work is underway through the imposition of a ‘pre-occupation’ condition.
Stewart Baseley, The Home Builders Federation executive chairman said;
“The house building industry is committed to building more homes but can only do so if it has the land on which to build them. It is encouraging that so many headline planning permissions are being granted but we simply have to find a way to unblock the system and reduce the time it takes to get a permission to the stage where builders can actually start building.”
“Construction work shouldn’t be held up by council officers getting round to approving designs for landscaping, playgrounds or ensuring developers are liaising with community artists. These could be agreed whilst infrastructure work gets started.”
“Our housing crisis is too serious a threat to our future for everyone not to be pulling in the same direction. House builders are keen to increase output further but all parties need to work together if we are going to solve our housing shortage.”
Despite an increase in the number homes available in the supply chain, there are simply not enough new homes being developed to handle the demand with the planning system highlighted in the report as one of the major constraints on supply.
Allan Wilén, economics director at Glenigan, said that the increase in the number of homes that were approved was driven by an increase in private housing, adding;
“The rise demonstrates that housebuilders remain confident about market prospects for the year ahead with a firm development pipeline ensuring that house builders are well placed to meet demand.”
