THE WORD AT WESTMINSTER
WHAT’S UP AT WESTMINSTER?
The new government is in power, but how is it stacking up? Jeremy Gray, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at the FMB, shares his thoughts
Framework (NPPF) consultation for clarifying what it meant. Labour has set up a commission to look into building a new town, another lofty ambition, which we’ve made clear must include smaller housebuilders. So, does this mean housing is done and dusted? Far from it. The UK has become reliant on a small number of volume housebuilders to deliver new homes, while SME output numbers have crashed. The government’s plans involve large scale strategic housebuilding that will, in theory, reduce house prices and result in more housing. However this is very different from the business models that volume developers follow, which also pushes aside the organic, sustainable growth of towns and villages that our members excel at. The market is fundamentally flawed and needs more SMEs to build, but only time will tell if the proposed plans will bring this about. Get Britain building A topic that has been at the top of the political agenda is skills, although it is lacking the same gusto given to the push for more housing. The industry desperately needs builders to deliver new homes, but with apprenticeship numbers falling short and high dropout rates, will the industry be ready to ramp up? It’s unlikely, but Labour has set up Skills England to boost vocational training and encourage school leavers to see the true value of a role in the construction industry. We also await the impending review of Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) to see what the future looks like for training new builders.
T he new Labour government building agenda in the King’s Speech and a raft of changes to try to build 1.5 million homes in the next five years. The FMB has been in the thick of it, meeting with the Housing Minister, Matthew Pennycook, MPs and government officials to ensure the voices of smaller housebuilders don’t get lost in the drive to deliver new homes. barely had a chance to settle in before big news for builders came from the party’s top brass – a pro- Is 370,000 new homes too bold? News making the headlines is the government’s plan to increase housing targets to an ambitious 370,000 new homes a year – a figure not seen since 1969 (when Neil Amstrong made “one giant leap for mankind”). To help the government achieve the target, the FMB met with the Housing Minister, and provided evidence to the Greater London Authority (GLA) on boosting output with small housebuilders. Building 1.5 million new homes in five years is an ambitious goal, but plans to reform the planning system should make it easier to build them. Labour’s announcement to increase direct government funding for planning officers is good to see, however, the amount is a drop in the ocean compared with what is needed to support planning teams that are losing staff to lucrative private sector pay packets.
Jeremy Gray, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at the FM
The government has also made brownfield sites a focus of its plans. This could be a bonus for SME housebuilders who tend to prefer smaller brownfield sites, but with targets of 50 per cent affordable housing, will the numbers stack up? The much-spoken about ‘grey belt’ – which caused a scramble to understand what it means – is defined as previously- developed-upon green belt land. Thanks to the National Planning Policy
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