Drawing on past research, Glen Bramley outlines ten ideas that could help increase housebuilding in England. His plan covers various points of the process, from how the planning system works to the need for a revised Green Belt policy as well as the benefits of enhancing the role of local authorities.
In November last year, I was invited to meet with analysts at the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG), to consider how we can substantially raise the level of new housebuilding in England. In preparation, I put together the ‘Ten-Point Plan’ below, which attracted a lot of comment at that meeting and has since been mentioned in various other forums.
These ten ideas are not entirely original, but are rather crafted and tweaked from, for example, the Lyons Commission inquiry of 2014 and the Highbury Group on Housing Delivery. One of the problems with those excellent pieces of work is that they end up with a very long list of recommendations. In developing this list, I have focused on those things I consider would make the most crucial difference. This starts with key determinants of the way the planning system sets numerical targets, moves on through the way these are directed and coordinated geographically, the need to harness the enabling and motivating forces of infrastructure and city-region growth agendas, key measures for proactive public involvement in land development, to conclude with a reaffirmation of the proven value of planning agreements for affordable housing.
Although presented here quite baldly, these points do reflect an evidence base, in terms of my own and colleagues’ recent research, which is detailed in evidence to the House of Lords Select Committee on Long Term Policy on Built Environment. More generally, I draw on my experience as an applied researcher over about 45 years. I hope they provide a useful contribution to the debate:
- Train/brief planning inspectorate to have a better understanding of how to read ‘market signals’ and adjust planning numbers accordingly.
- DCLG to commission regular forecasts of housing market to sub-regional level, tied in to Office of Budget Responsibility forecasts, with associated published output and commentary on implications of market prospects for supply, subject to independent expert review and scrutiny.
- Mandatory requirement for core housing strategy/numbers to be agreed at Housing Market Area (HMA) level (with reserve power for the Secretary of State to impose).
- Create a joint body to address balance of numbers and strategic growth locations between Greater London Authority and the South East/East of England regions (with reserve power for the Secretary of State to impose).
- Revise Green Belt policy to encourage boundary revision where demonstrably most sustainable solution for strategic housing growth need.
- Set up infrastructure fund to support strategic growth areas, inviting groups of Local Authorities based on functional regions (HMAs) to bid for these resources.
- Any devolution of powers and resources to city-region groupings to be contingent on adequate planned housing numbers.
- Enhance powers for growth areas to form Local Authority-led land development agencies, potentially in partnership with other major landowners, with reserve Compulsory Purchase Order powers, and revised compensation code whereby initial purchase is at Existing Use Value + fixed amount, but landowner retains share in equity of development as finally realised, after funding of all infrastructure. Where this applies, all surplus public land to be channelled through this agency.
- Preferred method of disposal of land for development by Local Authorities or development vehicles to be auction sale under building license, subject to planning brief and specified requirements as to phasing and mix, with freeholds conveyed directly to final purchasers.
- Restore ability of Local Authorities to specify mix of affordable housing required under s.106, based on Strategic Housing Market Assessment evidence and subject to reasonable transparent and standardised viability testing (possibly linked to point 2 above).
The current government are clearly very concerned about housing supply, and there have been repeated announcements of measures to ‘kick start’ the level of housebuilding activity. They are interested in exploring quite a few of these ideas, including for example point 9 which is reflected in the announcement in the first week of 2016 of a new initiative on direct commissioning of housing on publicly-owned land. However, it remains to be seen how fully they would feel able to adopt some of these measures, given previous high-profile commitments and actions, e.g. abolition of National Housing and Planning Advice Unit in 2010 (points 1-2), adoption of ‘localism’ and abolition of regional planning (points 3-4), manifesto commitment to protect Green Belt (point 5), recent ‘spiking’ of section 106 by allowing ‘Starter Homes’ to count as affordable housing (point 10).
George Osborne’s obsession with deficit-reduction will limit the amount they are willing to commit to measures like point 6, and that ideological distaste for public intervention in land markets (as well as lobbying by large landowners and developers) will limit how far they would go on to point 8. It is unclear why the government have become so negative towards housing associations, but a combination of this, negativity towards social housing (as part of ‘welfare’) and lobbying by the developers would make them reluctant to adopt point 10., despite considerable evidence that building more social housing has a positive impact on the amount of private housing that is built.
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Note: this article was originally posted on I-SPHERE and is reposted here with thanks.
Glen Bramley is Professor at the Institute for Social Policy, Housing, Environment and Real Estate, Heriot-Watt University
Most of the points would have limited impact on securing a greater number of affordable homes and social homes, although covered in your summary. Without a reversal of the current Govt rent controls and loosening of borrowing caps social housing providers will not be able to provide the much needed affordsble rented accommodation. Government intervention is needed to ensure the increase in building is measured and issues such as labour and supply costs do not spiral as a result of overheating of building demand.
Any housing plan needs to have a strategy for pricing. The problem is not about housing supply per se, but that housing is too expensive, so any proposed measures need to be framed within the context of a plan to bring about price reduction. The ‘Housing problem’ won’t be solved unless the question of prices is addressed.
Such a strategy should have two parts – a plan to achieve a pricing target, the target being determined by the level of affordability that the Government thinks is practical and achievable, and then a policy for maintaining that level of affordability.
What level of reduction in house prices will ‘kick start’ the market ….?
What level of price reduction will be acceptable both politically and economically ….?
I am not convinced that the Government has a strategy that it is prepared to admit to.
Much of this sounds rather like the approach during the later Blair years, which doesn’t make it wrong but rather unlikely to be adopted.
Lord knows how a system to get Inpsectors to read market signals would work. The tools just are not there. As it stands they can’t cope with the viability testing system What we need is a planning system that is generally more clued up on market issues and knows when it should be flexible and when it should not.