Land Release Fund Embraced By Councils

The DLUHC has released £57.8 million to councils in order to develop quality housing. Councils have received 80 per cent of the £75 million Brownfield Land Release Fund (BLRF), meaning financial support has been made available to 53 councils across the nation to boost local areas through the transformation of unloved and disused sites. According to the DLUHC (formerly the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government) there could be up to 17,000 jobs supported across the housing and construction sector as well as the wider economy. Read more on the ARLA website.

https://www.propertymark.co.uk/resource/land-release-fund-embraced-by-councils.html

Formula For Locating New Homes Revised After Tory Backlash

Proposals for controversial planning reforms in England have been revised, after new housing targets prompted a backlash amongst many Conservative MPs. A computer-based formula used to decide where houses should be located has been "updated" to focus more on cities and urban areas in the North and Midlands. Ministers said cash for brownfield sites would be distributed more fairly outside London and the South East. Some MPs in southern England said their areas risked being "concreted over". The government wants to 300,000 new homes to be built across England each year by the mid-2020s. Read more on the BBC website.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55322993

Research Reveals There Is Enough Brownfield Land For 1.3 Million Homes

A national charity has accused the government of “gravely misdiagnosing” the problems with housing delivery after it published new research that suggests there is enough brownfield land in England for 1.3 million homes, of which more than half a million already have planning permission. CPRE, the national countryside charity, has published a report which also suggested that there are currently enough homes in the planning system to meet the government’s delivery targets. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/charity-hits-out-at-planning-reforms-as-research-reveals-there-is-enough-brownfield-land-for-13-million-homes-68270

Budget 2020: Housing Measures At A Glance

·         A new Affordable Homes Programme of £12bn

·         A £1bn Building Safety Fund to remove unsafe cladding from buildings

·         £650m of funding to help rough sleepers into permanent accommodation

·         £400m for ambitious regional mayors to build homes on brownfield sites

·         Promise to announce measures to change the planning system tomorrow

·         A 1% cut on the Public Works Loan Board interest rate, used by local authorities to fund housebuilding

·         A temporary removal of the minimum income floor (which calculates assumed earnings for self-employed people) in Universal Credit as part of the government’s response to coronavirus

·         £200m for communities in areas that repeatedly flood

Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/budget-2020-the-housing-bits-of-sunaks-speech-in-full-65395?utm_source=Ocean%20Media%20Group&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=11390639_IH-BUDGET-SPECIAL-11-3-2020-GR&dm_i=1HH2,6S52N,8CKJV9,R4PA8,1

Government Unveils £6m Garden Towns And Villages Top Up Funding

A total of £6m will be allocated to help new locally-led garden towns and villages progress plans to deliver up to 200,000 new homes. An additional £1.9m will be given to councils in England to support new neighbourhood plans, which government says will allow “communities to get involved and have their say on the types of homes that are built and where.” The funding “builds on the government’s commitment to giving communities a voice on the development in their areas, including prioritising local brownfield land while protecting the green belt,” MHCLG has said. Read more on Housing Today.

https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/government-gives-6m-to-garden-town-schemes/5103704.article

UK’s Attitude To Creation Of New Towns

Only one in 10 residents have been revealed in supporting the creation of new towns as a solution to the housing crisis, according to a new survey. The research, published by Eurocell plc, highlights a reticence around the concept of new towns since the construction of places such as Milton Keynes and Telford in the mid-20th century. By contrast, 43% of those surveyed would prefer the conversion of old, unused buildings and the regeneration of run-down communities or brownfield sites. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/new-survey-reveals-uks-attitude-to-creation-of-new-towns/

Government Urged To Prioritise Brownfield Housing Development

A government serious about tackling the housing crisis must prioritise building on brownfield land, the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) has said. ACE also makes a case for stabilising in social housing policy by ensuring a flat 15% provision in any development. Releasing a wide-ranging election manifesto – Infrastructure for everyone – ACE references the government’s own figures as showing a recent drop in brownfield development, with 56% of developments on previously developed land, down from 61% in 2016. The Campaign to Protect Rural England has previously estimated that more than one million homes could be built on brownfield sites. Download the report from the ACE website.

https://www.acenet.co.uk/media/4422/ace-manifesto-2019.pdf

Brownfield Land Could Tackle 75% Of 10-Year Housing Need

British cities could meet nearly three quarters of their 10-year housing demand with existing vacant brownfield land sites in their boundaries according to new data. Research by PLATFORM_, a developer and operator of private rented housing, says brownfield land could accommodate 367,711 homes across 6,131 sites in 24 of the largest urban areas in England, Scotland and Wales.

It then cross referenced that with 10-year local housing need for each city and found that brownfield land could accommodate 70.7% of that demand on average. The sites identified are all vacant or have been earmarked for housing delivery. However if they were all built for sale they could take decades to deliver. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/brownfield-land-in-englands-largest-cities-could-tackle-75-of-10-year-housing-need/

Make ‘Places Not Just Homes’, Says New Government Report

Town halls should encourage the redevelopment of retail parks and large supermarkets into communities comprising homes, shops, and businesses, a government report has found. The Creating space for beauty report recommends that new ‘mixed use’ communities be built on brownfield sites and that they should be supported by new public transport to reduce reliance on cars. The proposals come as part of plans to revisit ‘boxland’ developments. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/make-places-not-just-homes-says-new-government-report/

Gardens: Parliamentary Written Answer

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken since May 2010 to tackle garden grabbing and protect residential gardens.

Rishi Sunak: In June 2010 the Government removed domestic gardens in built-up areas from the definition of ‘brownfield’ land. This strengthened the discretion of local authorities to refuse intrusive new dwellings on residential garden land. We retained that policy when we revised the National Planning Policy Framework in June 2018. This does not impose a complete ban on the use of redundant garden land for housing. We expect local authorities to consider what is the appropriate density for a residential area, to resist inappropriate development, and to ensure green infrastructure is maintained in built-up areas.

https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2019-04-05/241488

£1 Billion Housing Delivery Fund Launched

Housing Secretary James Brokenshire has announced a partnership with Barclays Bank to provide £1 billion of loan finance to help support small and medium sized developers, speeding up the delivery of thousands of new homes. Support, ranging between £5 million to £100 million, will be available to developers who are able to demonstrate experience and commitment to building excellent new homes, with a track record of delivering challenging projects on time and to target. The Housing Delivery Fund will support the delivery of new homes, including social housing, retirement living and apartments for rent, whilst also encouraging greater innovation on how housing is delivered such as brownfield land and urban regeneration projects. Read more on the Homes England website.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/1-billion-housing-delivery-fund-launched-by-brokenshire-in-partnership-with-barclays

Government £200m Brownfields Building Fund Falls Flat, As Number Of New Homes Declines

A £200million Government fund to pay for more homes on industrial land has resulted in the opposite effect, with fewer homes built on brownfield areas than before it was set up. Official Government’s land use change statistics show that the proportion of new homes registered on previously developed land has fallen by 4 percentage points since 2014, when the fund was set up. Yet over the same period the number of new residential addresses on supposedly heavily protected Green Belt land has increased by the same proportion - 4 per cent. Read more on the Daily Telegraph website.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/08/19/government-200m-brownfields-building-fund-falls-flat-number/

CPRE Warning As 460,000 Homes To Be Built On Green Belt Land

The green belt remains under severe pressure, despite government commitments to its protection, according to a new report from the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE). The report highlights that there are currently 460,000 homes being planned to be built on land that will soon be released from the green belt. CPRE add that of these 460,000 homes, the percentage of affordable homes will be just 22%. Last year 72% of homes built on greenfield land within the green belt were unaffordable by the government’s definition. CPRE add that there is currently enough brownfield land to build a million homes and are calling on the government to pursue a “brownfield first” approach to development. Download the report from the CPRE website.

https://www.cpre.org.uk/resources/housing-and-planning/green-belts/item/download/5486

Countryside Being Lost To Housing At An Alarming Rate

New government data shows that despite promising signs of an increase in brownfield development, greenfield land is still being lost to housing development at an unnecessary rate. The amount of farmland, forests, gardens and greenfield land lost to housing development each year has increased by 58% over the past 4 years, according to an analysis by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE). CPRE’s analysis of an annual report highlighting changes in land use, published by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government on 31 May, shows that the area of ‘non-previously developed land’ lost to housing annually has been steadily rising, from 2,105 hectares of land in 2013, to 3,332 hectares of land in 2017. Read more on the CPRE website.

https://www.cpre.org.uk/media-centre/latest-news-releases/item/4867-countryside-being-lost-to-housing-at-an-alarming-rate-increase-brownfield-development

Conservatives' Flagship CPO Plans For Social Rent 'Could Face Legal Challenge'

Tory plans to overhaul compulsory purchase laws to boost social housing provision could be challenged in parliament and through the courts, experts have warned. The Conservative Party this weekend pledged “a new generation of homes for social rent”, with cheap land deals part of the plan. Theresa May’s party said allowing councils to compulsorily purchase brownfield sites at below market value could release sites for social housing, particularly in urban areas. But Jacqueline Backhaus, head of planning at law firm Trowers & Hamlins, said any change to compulsory purchase legislation would be tough to enact – and could be challenged on human rights grounds. Read more on Inside Housing.

Starter Home Initiative – Parliamentary Written Answer

John Healey:  To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress his Department has made on rolling out the Starter Homes Land Fund.

Gavin Barwell: The Housing White Paper confirmed that the £1.2 billion Starter Homes Land Fund will be invested to support the preparations of brownfield sites for starter homes and other affordable home ownership tenures. 30 partnerships with local authorities were announced in January 2017 to identify and bring forward land opportunities. As of the end of February 2017, the Homes and Communities Agency had invested £61 million in 27 sites across the country, which have the capacity to deliver over 1,600 starter homes and other affordable home ownership units, and it is now undertaking detailed due diligence on further sites.

Housing White Paper: A Return To Traditional Policy-Making

The Housing White Paper must be the vehicle for building the affordable homes that "just about managing" households need. This requires a coherent and co-ordinated plan across investment, land, planning and construction:

·         The public sector must release land quicker and on a greater scale

·         We should push brownfield land and turn existing planning permissions into active builds through "use it or lose it" powers.

·         We can help older people who wish to downsize to do so

·         We must embrace new technologies, such as offsite manufacturing, to make housebuilding faster and more efficient

·         We must unleash the latent investment capacity of councils and housing associations, even if that jars with political ideology, because they are the best-fit deliverers of affordable housing.

Read more on the RICS website.

Implementation Dates For Housing Act Policies

Regulations introducing Starter Homes are due to come into force in the summer. Housing and Planning Act implementation dates:

·         Starter Homes, in force this summer

·         Secure tenancies, in force this autumn

·         Higher Value Asset sales, in due course, no detail is given on the timing

·         Brownfield registers, spring

·         Housing association insolvency regime, regulations will come before parliament in February

·         Self-build and custom building regulations, 31 October

·         Planning obligations and affordable housing, remains under review

Read more on Inside Housing.

First Wave Of Starter Homes Reignites Distortion Fears

The first wave of Starter Homes will be sale-only products, reigniting fears over their distorting effect on local housing markets. Housing minister Gavin Barwell had suggested some ‘Starter Homes’ would be rent-to-buy products. The government has confirmed that all homes built on brownfield sites by the 30 partner councils would be entirely for-sale products. These councils will use a share of £1.2bn of government cash to prepare brownfield sites for large developments of the homes, which will be sold at 80% of market value. Experts warned these units could be almost impossible to value against market rates and may even create a sub-market for Starter Homes, as demand for these cheaper properties spirals, skewing prices. Read more on Inside Housing.

Green Light For Construction Of Thousands Of New Starter Homes

The Government has given the go-ahead to 30 local authorities to spearhead its new discounted homes scheme for 23 to 40-year olds. The first Starter Homes will be built on brownfield sites across the country. The first wave of 30 local authority partnerships were selected for their potential to get housing scheme going quickly. These partnerships will have access to the government’s £1.2bn Starter Homes Land Fund. Councils will work closely with the HCA to identify and take forward further land opportunities for the fund. The first places will begin construction later this year along with sites supported by the HCA. Read more on the Construction Enquirer website.