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Housing White Paper: the property industry continues to react 

Posted 10 February 2017 by Keith Osborne

WhatHouse? publishes its latest collection of reactions to the much-anticipated White Paper tackling the challenges of the UK housing market...

Reaction from property professionals to the Housing White Paper continues even three days after its unveiling  by communities secretary Sajid Javid. Here are some more comments from across th industry on the impact of some of the latest government proposals.

 

Radian chief executive Lindsay Todd: “We welcome the government’s White Paper and commitment to deliver more homes, as well as the ambition to make housing more affordable. The acknowledgement that affordable housing should comprise a wide range of tenures and types of homes is welcome, as is the shift in policy towards the growing millions of renters, especially younger renters. Through experience of delivering sustainable developments we know that a mix of tenures is key to creating successful long-term communities.

“We welcome the steps taken to reserve sites for prefabricated buildings, as this will encourage investment at scale which is what is required to deliver much-needed homes more efficiently and affordably. We recognise that off-site manufacture can only form part of the overall housing mix but given the increasing shortage of construction capacity in the country, off-site manufacture has an important role in meeting the government’s housebuilding targets and helping to address the skills shortage.

“We commend the opening up of the Affordable Homes Programme and believe greater access to Rent to Buy and Shared Ownership homes will enable thousands of households to access homeownership through a product that fits their circumstance. We are committed to delivering high-quality homes of all tenures, and will work with the government and local authorities over the course of this Parliament and beyond to ensure we do all we can to tackle the housing crisis.”

 

Tom Nicholson, divisional chairman at Linden Homes: “Linden Homes welcomes the proposals set out in the Housing White Paper and will be responding to the consultation in due course. The reforms introduced by the last government through the National Planning Policy Framework have helped to deliver more homes; however, too many local planning authorities are yet to adopt Local Plans which has significantly slowed down housing delivery in some areas. We therefore welcome the commitment by the government to require local authorities to speed up plan making, keep these plans under regular review and where necessary intervene to ensure plans are produced.

“Linden Homes supports green belt policy and acknowledges the key role this protectionist policy has played in shaping towns and cities over the last 60 years. However, if the current government is committed to delivering a step change in housing delivery and dealing with this crisis it must support local authorities which are constrained by green belt to undertake early reviews and identify the right sites to consider for green belt release. Failure to address this key issue can only make the current problem worse.

“Linden Homes also welcomes the White Paper’s focus on a balanced housing market with initiatives for improving affordable, private rented and home ownership for everyone. The renewed support for first-time buyers through the Lifetime ISA and Starter Homes is a very positive move. The shift in emphasis away from just focusing on owner-occupier properties to delivering a broader range of tenures, including homes to rent and intermediate tenures, is a welcome recognition, as is the acknowledgment that Starter Homes should form part of a package of affordable housing that responds to local needs.”

 

David Gannicott, group director, business development at The Hyde Group: “We are pleased with the plans to try and break the log jam in the planning process. It is our firm belief that our strategic plan together with the necessary political drive from across the political divide in local and national forums will help the government in their desire to create one million homes by 2020. We are also buoyed by moves to make the market more competitive particularly for SMEs and those embracing modern methods of construction. ' 

 

The Guild of Property Professionals CEO, Marcus Whewell: “Overall, the White Paper is lacking important details. The government has the right intentions, but there are no clear strategies to reach their aims, particularly in relation to building more properties. To build an additional 240,000 new homes per annum, the planning approval systems need a comprehensive review.

“When it comes to supply, planning will be a key issue as one of the most significant inhibitors to accelerating the building programme. Continuing to respect and protect green belt land means that local councils maintain the whip hand in deciding access to such potential sites, with an understandable tendency to protect existing residents. The White Paper fails to provide a solution to this quandary. There is also evidence from the BBC of local councils manipulating the existing numbers to reduce their future obligations regarding the provision of new homes. Relying on local intelligence and decisions may not deliver the step change in volume that is required.”

 

Simon Elliott, associate planner at East Anglian agency Bidwells: “Unfortunately, this isn’t so much a blueprint for a new housing sector but rather a document setting out what might one day go into that blueprint. Whilst many of these suggestions are welcomed, it is disappointing that despite the considerable amount of consultation undertaken on the planning system in recent years and an Autumn Budget Statement that made clear that the housing crisis desperately needs to be addressed, no single measure to address the crisis is implemented as part of this government announcement.

“With a further round of consultation now open until May, it seems unlikely that we will see any material changes before the summer. Indeed, many of the proposals will not come into force until April 2018. There are also a number of issues that the White Paper is worryingly silent on, such as the impact on land values resulting from a more affordable housing market.

 

Paul Isaacs, managing director of Generator Group: “There is very little chance of hitting the target of delivering one million new homes by 2020, equating to 300,000 per annum, unless there are radical changes to the planning system that is currently not fit for purpose.

 “There are plans to change land releases to ensure enough land is allocated to meet demand; this will not be the good news it suggests, if it still takes too long to secure planning consent. More importance needs to be given to small housebuilders to help speed up the delivery of these housing numbers.”

 

Nick Taylor, head of planning at Carter Jonas: “A large proportion of the government white paper reimagines or relaunches past initiatives, but there are a number of interesting new proposals that reflect a commitment to ensure that new housing is delivered in a timely fashion.”

“The proposal to try and arrive at a single methodology for objectively assessing housing need is positive and could short-circuit delays often encountered in the Local Plan preparation process. We also welcome the suggestion that housing land supply should be assessed annually and agreed by councils and stakeholders, therefore removing lengthy delays – often at appeal – as to the true extent of any housing shortfall. Further urging local authorities to get Local Plans in place as soon as possible, are necessary as is the suggestion plans should be flexible and be reviewed regularly with a clear focus on delivery.”

“The reaffirmation of green belt policy is not surprising, but we do feel there is a missed opportunity to re-assess its effectiveness as a planning policy tool as it has been over 60 years since it was launched.  All too often it is conflated with policies dealing with landscape quality and the reality on the ground is often very different.

“The government seems intent instead to encourage much higher densities in urban locations – something that may not be singularly popular with those living in such areas and experience suggests that residents will react negatively. Density is not the panacea for delivering more housing.”

 

John Eastgate, sales and marketing director, OneSavings Bank: “The intentions set out in the White Paper are laudable, and it does feel that whilst many commitments have been made over the years to fix our housing issues, the weight of conviction this time is greater than ever. Speeding up the planning and building process is a much needed improvement to boost supply, while ensuring the availability of longer tenancies will provide stability to both landlords and families who rely on rental homes.  

“Investment in all types of property is the only way we will meet the needs of the UK’s growing population, so the government’s commitment to support more institutional investment for Build to Rent is another important policy milestone. Recognition of the importance of the private rented sector is welcomed and will hopefully see a change in focus for the buy-to-let market, from one of intervention to one of encouragement.”

 

Javed Hussain, managing director, J2 Global: “As a small developer looking to help support the housing crisis by building new homes across the country, I’m quite happy with the content of today’s Housing White Paper as it looks like the government is finally putting things in place to build new homes for all walks of life.

“Our opinion is that affordable rented homes are one of the best options for those desperately in need of a new home, so this was a key requirement from the outset. It’s also imperative that we build a community that appeals to a wide demographic from locals looking for high-quality housing to London commuters looking for the same level of product as they’d find in the centre of the city, but with a more appealing price tag.

 

Michael Lunn, director of policy and public affairs for the Environmental Industries Commission: “I welcome the proposals for bringing more brownfield land into use, and protecting greenbelt land. However, to accelerate the level of house building on brownfield sites additional funding is urgently needed for local authorities to bring forward brownfield sites which may have additional constraints such as contaminated land. Furthermore, DCLG needs to do more in encouraging local authorities to register all brownfield sites suitable for housing onto the brownfield register.”

 

Kieran White, managing director at Vision Modular Systems: “Modular construction has huge potential to help deliver thousands of new homes more quickly. [The] White Paper emphasises the need to create capacity and we believe that offering stability and certainty to our industry is crucial off-site manufacturing is to become a viable solution.

“Government support for modular construction must be comprehensive and shouldn’t focus simply on capacity. Regardless of how many modules a factory can produce, there is still the problem of who will use them. If modular is to be rolled out across the UK, initiatives need to focus on boosting capacity, while also maintaining a steady rate of demand.

“The modular developments sprouting up across the UK today are a world away from the post-war prefabs of years gone by. The quality of design and materials makes modular housing a viable alternative to traditional construction. This allied with the ageing demographic of the UK construction workforce presents the opportunity for modular to build more with less.”  

 

The House Crowd CEO Frazer Fearnhead: “The announcement that the government is cracking down on local authorities opposing development is good news. Councils with an anti-development stance can be hugely obstructive for housebuilding, and without action, the government will fail to satisfy the ever-increasing demand for residential property. Provision for affordable housing also varies significantly between councils, and this needs to be addressed to give new housing figures the boost they sorely need and prevent certain areas falling behind.

 

Martin Bellinger, chief operating officer at Essential Living: “There’s been growing support for Build to Rent largely because ministers have realised there is nearly £90bn of new money to be harvested from pension funds and institutions. Whatever ownership ambitions people have, the reality is that more people than ever are renting. Encouraging companies to build professionally managed rental communities will reduce the problem of rogue landlords and allow more homes to be built more quickly."

 

Ian Thomas, co-founder and CIO of property finance lender LendInvest: "The Housing White Paper makes it clear that the onus is on all levels of government and industry to deliver more homes of every type. The success of small scale housebuilders is of critical importance to the increase in housing supply. In the execution of these measures, government must put SMEs at the fore, providing them with access to finance, land and skills to put homes on British streets. We want to see these small builders and property investors at the front of the queue to purchase public land and we look forward to opportunities to work with government to get public finance into the hands of these developers."

 

Read more reactions to the White Paper here.

Read further reactions to the White Paper here.

Read another batch of reactions to the White Paper here.

 

 

Read the government White Paper in full here

 

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