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Grey belt is no good
The House of Lords’ Built Environment Committee has told Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner that the government’s plans for the grey belt are unworkable and will not yield more housing. The grey belt policy, announced in July 2024, aims to create more land for housing by using lower-quality green belt land to expand rural settlements and unlock sites on the boundaries of existing communities. The policy requires local authorities to review green belt boundaries and propose alterations if they cannot accommodate their need for homes through other means. The Lords said the policy is at odds with other planning reforms and there is doubt about how many homes the so-called grey belt could even accommodate, given the lack of clarity on how the policy progress would be tracked. Lord Moylan, Chair of the Built Environment Committee, said the policy has been implemented in a “rushed and incoherent manner” and it’s unlikely “to have any significant or lasting impact on planning decision-making or helping the government achieve its target of building 1.5 million new homes by the end of this parliament”.
Rayner: No excuses not to build 1.5m homes
D eputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner admitted that there are “no excuses” not to build one and a half million new homes as promised by the Labour government in its election manifesto.
In an interview with the BBC, Rayner acknowledged that the housing target was ambitious and is a difficult task but doubled down on the government’s commitment to meet it. Rayner, who is also Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, said: “There are no excuses to not build those homes that people desperately need. And we mean business on this, because far too many people are not getting these homes.” Meeting the target requires 300,000 new homes to be built every year – an amount that has not been achieved for more than 50 years.
Clients are ‘ignoring building safety’ There has been a “total lack of engagement” from clients with Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) members on Rachel Davidson, Director of Specialist Knowledge at BESA, said: “As there is currently very little enforcement of the legislation
and, therefore, no apparent consequences, clients are still subjecting contractors to aggressive and sub-economic pricing. “Not a single client has asked any of our members about compliance with the Act. Tenders are still being won on lowest price and still being value engineered throughout the project on non-HRB works. “Several contractors who insisted on applying more rigorous safety measures said they had been priced out of projects as a result.”
compliance, with “not a single client” discussing building safety with them, according to research from BESA. BESA members from across the UK said project decisions were made largely based on cost and speed, particularly by owners and developers whose buildings were not classified as ‘higher risk’ (HRBs). BESA’s research is based on holding focus groups with members for six months to assess the adoption of measures introduced under the Building Safety Act.
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