The government will take the role of national housebuilder as the PM is set to announce it will directly commission thousands of affordable new homes…
The government certainly knows the issues that lay at the forefront of public concern. Affordable housing was undoubtedly one of the most talked about topics during 2015 and it looks set to continue that trend into the New Year.
Increasing prices and a lack of affordable properties is an area that will continue to gather steam, unless it is addressed. However, as prices continue to rise, homeownership, which is an aspiration for many Britons, is becoming next to impossible.
In a bid to overcome this the government is today set to announce it will directly commission thousands of new affordable properties. Direct commissioning put the government in the driving seat of development, rather than large building firms. The move, which will see homes built at a faster rate, will also utilise smaller building firms in the building process and will apply to sites that are publicly-owned, with planning permission already in place.
Chief Executive of the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) Brian Berry said the availability of small sites was the biggest barrier to increasing the workload of SME builders.
“Any measures that the government can introduce that will increase the number of small sites suitable for SME house builders will help address the housing shortfall.
“It is also encouraging that the majority of these sites will already have planning permission in place as obtaining permission is all-too-often a lengthy and protracted process – avoiding this time delay should help house builders increase their supply much more quickly.”
According to the government, the first wave of up to 13,000 homes will take place across four sites outside the capital during this year. A total of 40 per cent of properties will be set aside as affordable starter homes.
The pilot for the scheme will take place across five sites in the south of England. This includes Connaugh Barracks in Dover; Northstowe in Cambridgeshire; Lower Graylingwell in Chichester; Daedelus on Waterfront in Gosport; and Old Oak Common in north west London.
The Old Oak Common site in north west London will also see a new development. This site is expected to deliver 24,000 new homes, including low cost properties. Up to 1,500 new homes will also be constructed in an associated development at Park Royal. The development will comprise of a new high street, schools, leisure facilities, as well as commercial and office space. This will provide room for around 1,500 businesses on the Park Royal industrial estate and could create in the region of 55,000 new jobs.
Other plans will also see a £1.2bn starter home fund put aside to prepare brownfield sites for new properties. This will assist with the creation of at least 30,000 new starter homes and up to 30,000 market homes across 500 sites by 2020. This will go some way to delivering on the government’s commitment to create 200,000 starter homes during this parliament. The investment will also help secure planning permission in urban areas and remove delays facing contractors working on renovating disused or under-occupied urban sites.
Prime Minister David Cameron said: “This government was elected to deliver security and opportunity – whatever stage of life you’re at. Nothing is more important to achieving that than ensuring hard-working people can buy affordable homes.
“Today’s package signals a huge shift in government policy. Nothing like this has been done on this scale in 3 decades – government rolling its sleeves up and directly getting homes built.
“Backed up with a further £1.2 billion to get homes built on brownfield sites, it shows we will do everything we can to get Britain building and let more people have the security that comes with a home of their own.”
Despite a number of policies aimed at solving the housing crisis, shadow housing minister John Healey was quick to lambaste the PM, stating he was simply “laying on the rhetoric to hide his failure on new homes”.
He added home ownership was at its “lowest level in a generation” and called on the PM to do more “to fix his five years of failure on housing”.
Head of Policy at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Jeremy Blackburn said the scheme would help the market.
“This government has already introduced a great many initiatives that we believe will slow current high rates of house-price growth,” he said.
“Today’s announcements will further help to bring much-needed new developments swiftly to market.”
The starter homes scheme is one of government’s flagship housing initiatives, aimed at solving the housing crisis and getting more Britons on the housing ladder. This will see 200,000 home built by 2020 and is aimed predominately at first time buyers under 40.
However, the scheme is not without its share of controversy, as it removes the obligations of developers to provide affordable properties for rent, as well as paying for local infrastructure. Critics of the scheme warn this could see fewer homes for poorer families and could see councils lose billions towards developing local areas.