Government Cuts Funding For Making Brownfield Sites Suitable For New Homes

The government has drastically cut funds needed to encourage new building on “brownfield” sites, despite claiming that such sites would be key to solving the housing crisis. Many sites could be used for housing but doing so would require work to remove remaining toxins from the soil, which carries a cost. To date, that cost has often been borne by the government and local authorities, but the MPs on the environmental audit committee found that DEFRA had drastically cut its funding for remediation, and is planning to phase it out in 2017. In richer areas, hopeful developers frequently pay for decontamination themselves, but in poor districts they rely on the council or central government to do so in order to render the site suitable. Read more on the Guardian website.

Proposals Unveiled For Starter Homes on Rural Exception Sites

Relaxed planning rules covering the construction of low cost ‘starter homes’ for local residents could be extended to rural towns and villages in England as part of plans to boost the rural economy which also include moves to make neighbourhood planning more straightforward. Last week the  Treasury and DEFRA unveiled a package of proposals aimed at boosting rural productivity. A key element would involve amending planning rules to allow ‘starter homes’ to be built on Rural Exception Sites for the first time. According to the policy paper, the government intends to make it easier for local areas to establish their own neighbourhood plans. They could then use these to allocate land for new homes, including starter homes on rural exception sites. Read more on the Planning Portal website.