A new report into housing policy has called for the government to install a chief built environment advisor and to reconsider details of the Housing and Planning Bill…
A House of Lords committee has warned without action the government will miss its house building target.
The Commons Built Environment Committee said the reliance of private developers alone would see the 240,000 homes a year target fail.
In its report the committee warned the government must radically rethink its policy and push for local authority and housing associations to help meet housing demand.
The committee said a chief built environment advisor could help by working across Whitehall departments to integrate planning policy and to champion good practice in the sector.
The report also called for the government to rethink its position on zero carbon homes. This was scrapped last year among a great deal of controversy, but the committee said it was necessary to ensure the nation continues to provide sustainable quality developments.
Chair of the Committee on National Policy for the Built Environment Baroness O’Cathain said: “If we build houses in the wrong place, to a poor standard, without the consent of local communities we are only storing up future misery for the people in those houses and others nearby.
“That is why we are recommending local authorities are once again empowered both to build new homes of their own, and to ensure all developments are of a suitably high quality.”
She also called for the government to ease restrictions on local authority borrowing and to move away from the idea of building new homes quickly. This, the report said, is a threat to long term sustainable planning and design standards.
The Baroness added: “Spending a little bit extra on good quality design at the outset can avert massive costs to people, society and Government in the long-run.
“The Government should review the National Planning Policy Framework to make sure developers aren’t using financial viability to play fast and loose with design quality and sustainability.
“If developers submit substandard plans local authorities should be able to ask them to think again without builders falling back on questionable viability assessments to get their way,” she said.
Among the recommendations outlined in the report were calls for the government to stop including starter homes within affordable housing as it hinders the delivery of genuinely affordable homes in the long term.
It also suggested the Housing and Planning Bill should reconsider elements that would undermine the maintenance of mixed communities.
Furthermore, the National Planning Policy Framework should be revised to reduce the unreasonable use of viability assessments by developers to avoid funding affordable housing and infrastructure.
The committee also recommended design review should be mandatory for all major planning applications to offset long term problems caused by poor design.