Tag Archives: housing

Crispin Blunt MP tightens Greenbelt on Government

Crispin Blunt and some London based colleagues have taken up the cudgels in the green belt debate. Mr Blunt, MP for Reigate, formed the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for London’s green belt with the intention of pressuring the Government to do more to protect green belt, build on brownfield land and increase the speed that developers are building out.

In a letter from Mr Blunt to Communities Secretary Sajid Javid, the group claim the new housing need assessment put forward by Government in September imposes “excessive housing targets” in areas where local authorities will have little choice but to build on green belt or AONB land.

The secretariat for the APPG will be provided by the London Green Belt Council, a group chaired by Richard Knox-Johnston, who is also the vice-chairman of CPRE Kent. CPRE and the London Green Belt Council have always worked intimately with each other, and jointly published a paper last year calling for a moratorium on development in the green belt.

Given the new group will have close involvement from the CPRE, it’s perhaps no surprise they have already echoed CPRE’s calls on Government to prioritise development on brownfield land rather than release more land for homes in expensive areas of the country to ease the housing crisis.

The group has also called for councils to be given the power to reject development proposals which do not meet local affordable housing requirements, even if they don’t have a Local Plan or an establish five year housing supply. However, given the National Planning Policy Framework’s presumption in favour of sustainable development, and the number of rulings which have been determined on this basis in recent years, it’s unlikely Government will budge on this when the NPPF is updated.

Announcing the launch of the APPG, Crispin Blunt said:

“I am delighted we have formed the APPG for London’s Green Belt. With the number of Green Belt sites around London under threat from development more than doubling over the past year, we urgently need to review our approach to housing policy across the region. The group will inform the debate and develop recommendations for Green Belt-friendly planning policy.”

The group consists of:

  • Crispin Blunt MP, Co-Chair, (Conservative, Reigate)
  • Lord Rogers of Riverside CH, Co-Chair, (Labour)
  • Gareth Thomas MP, Vice Chair, (Labour and Co-op, Harrow)
  • Adam Holloway MP, (Conservative, Gravesham)
  • Rt Hon Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Conservative, Chesham and Amersham)
  • Baroness Jones of Moulsecomb (Green)

The group is well versed in green belt issues and brings considerable influence to bear within Westminster, with Lord Rogers of Riverside CH having served as Chief Advisor on Architecture and Urbanism to Boris Johnston and Ken Livingston and Gareth Thomas MP the current President of the London green belt Council.

Given Crispin Blunt MPs assertion that failures in the planning system have  placed “unreasonable pressures on local authorities to provide new homes whilst developers have ‘land banked’ sites”, we can expect the APPG to steer Government to include measures on speeding up  build-out on sites which have already received planning permission, in upcoming planning changes.

No group meetings have been arranged yet, but keeping watching this space.

Housing breakfast briefing

Join Chelgate Local and Bidwells for Breakfast in Essex!

Chelgate Local and Bidwells welcome you to attend our housing breakfast briefing on garden towns and villages, with a focus on north Essex, Harlow and Gilston.

The session will discuss what garden towns and villages are in terms of planning and development and how they are being progressed.

We will look at the Government’s objectives and how it is likely to accelerate development in the region, whether that be through funding or procedural measures. We will also look at the impact these large developments will have on the economic prosperity in the area.

 

Date: 5 December 2017

 

Venue:  The Pavillion, Essex County Cricket Club,  The Cloudfm County Ground, New Writtle Street, Chelmsford, CM2 0PG

 

Agenda:

Arrival & breakfast:        08:00

Seminar starts:               08:30

Q&A:                                 09:30

Networking:                    10:00

Close:                               10:30


Speakers:

 

Liam Herbert, Chelgate Chief Executive – Chair

 

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Cllr John Spence CBE, Essex County Council – North Essex Garden Villages

 

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Cllr Linda Haysey, Leader, East Herts District Council – Harlow & Gilston Garden Town

 

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Cllr Kevin Bentley, Essex County Council – Economic Impact of Garden Towns & Villages

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike Derbyshire, Head of Planning (Bidwells) – Planning for Garden Towns & Villages

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Places are limited so RSVP now to secure your place!

 

Javid jostles for budget funding?

Live on the Andrew Marr show yesterday Sajid Javid made plain his desire to see the Government borrow money to support house building.

The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government said: “We are looking at new investments and I’m sure that the Budget will be covering housing”. Perhaps not the words of someone who is sure of the way the Chancellor is thinking. So, what does he have in mind?

It was notable that Mr Javid’s focus was on the provision of infrastructure to facilitate more house building rather than house building itself. This is certainly a worthy aim and could conceivably help to persuade concerned communities that new homes won’t mean local schools and hospitals suffering from overcrowding, and their roads becoming more jammed up.

However, while worthy, it misses the political point and is unlikely to address the Tories generation gap. Younger people have been brought up on a diet of instant fixes. They may understand the need for infrastructure in theory, they feel the compelling need for their own roof over their head right now, regardless of the local road system. Labour get this and are calling for a new wave of house building right now – hitting the zeitgeist on the head.

Javid also moved to scotch the swirling rumours about relaxations on development on the Green Belt, which would probably be political suicide for the Conservatives who rely on the shire counties to deliver thumping majorities. Despite flagging the opportunity presented by low interest rates, he also avoided the issue of letting local authorities borrow to build their own housing, an anomaly as they can borrow to buy other assets.

But readers should also note that Javid is flying a kite, he doesn’t know which way Hammond is going to jump on any of these issues. There are a huge number of areas where extra government investment can buy votes – increased wages for nurses, more bobbies on the beat, investment in the NHS….. Javid is making his case on Andrew Marr in public in an effort to put pressure on Mr Hammond.

We only have a month to wait to find out which way the Chancellor will jump.

Bids Open for Ambitious Land Release Fund

 

After several false starts, the DCLG’s ‘Land Release’ fund announced in the Housing White Paper has opened for bids.

Operated as a partnership of the DCLG, the Cabinet Office and the Local Government Association’s One Public Estate programme, the fund will be used to help councils overcome barriers to development on brownfield land. However, at just £54 million, the government target of unlocking enough council owned land for the provision of 160,000 by 2020 seems more than a little ambitious.

Local authorities will be able to bid for funding to cover the costs of land remediation and the provision of small-scale infrastructure. At a time when councils are facing unprecedented pressure on their finances, the government hopes that the funding will help bring forward land and development that would otherwise lie dormant.

Interesting, in a change from previous announcements of the same money, this time around no mention is made of priority being given to “innovative delivery models” or areas of “high housing demand”.

Councils making successful bids are expected to generate £615m in new homes bonuses and other tax revenue; save £158million from no longer having to maintain surplus land; create 44,000 new jobs and release land for 25,000 homes by 2020 – signalling just how ambitious the government is being with its targets to increase the delivery of new housing.

Alok Sharma, the Housing and Planning Minister said in a statement: ‘To build the homes this country needs, we need to increase the supply of land available to build more homes, more quickly. As a major landowner, local authorities have a crucial role to play in this task’.

While what Mr Sharma says is true, £54m won’t spread too far and successful bids will probably need further funding to unlock them for the market – the simple sites have already developed. All in all, this re-announcement may simply be one to show that the “Government is getting on with governing”.

Javid Announces Ban on Controversial Leaseholds

Sajid_Javid_(cropped)Communities Secretary Sajid Javid has announced today radical new proposals to crack down on the use of controversial leaseholds in new-build homes.

Leaseholds have previously been used for flats with shared communal areas however the number of houses sold as leaseholds has increased significantly in recent years. In many of these cases, there are clauses within the leaseholds that specify significant increases in ‘ground rent’ charges. A common example is for the ground rent to double every ten years. This has led to some leaseholders being left with homes that are almost impossible to sell.

In other instances, the freehold has been sold onto a third party, with well-publicised issues when leaseholders seek to buy the freehold only to find the cost has shot up or find that even making changes to their homes ends up costing significant sums.

Sajid Javid has announced the government will crack down on this practice, potentially even banning leaseholds on all new houses. The government’s proposals include:

  • A ban on all leaseholds on new-build homes;
  • Restricting ground rent increases to as low as zero;
  • Closing ‘legal loopholes’ such as leaseholders potentially being subject to possession orders;
  • Help to Buy equity loans will only be able to be used to support new build homes ‘on acceptable terms’

These proposals will be subject to an eight-week consultation which opens today and can be viewed here.

Sir Peter Bottomley, Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Leasehold Reform and Conservative MP for Worthing West, welcomed the announcement but called for the proposals to be applied retrospectively to those who currently have leasehold properties. The announcement has also been well-received by the press, however questions are beginning to be asked about how existing leaseholders will be affected by the new legislation.

The plans are likely to be popular with both Labour and Conservative voters so may be passed with relative ease – one of many quick wins Theresa May will be desperate for. However, there could be significant implications for developers. At present, there is little detail on how the new proposals would be enforced and how the government will use the feedback it receives from the consultation. Chelgate will closely monitor this policy for further developments.

planning news

Waverley Plan Under Fire

 

The examination in public (EiP) of Part 1 of the Waverley Local Plan, allocating strategic sites across the borough up to 2032, got off to a rocky start in Farnham last week. Such was local interest in the EiP that two additional rooms had to be provided at the council’s offices to accommodate the numbers.

In April, in preparation for the EiP, the inspector had posed a series of questions to the council. These included questioning the allocation at Dunsfold aerodrome, the lack of allocation around Haslemere, Farnham and Godalming, and the high numbers around Cranleigh. He also questioned Waverley’s decision to defer proposed green belt changes to Part 2 of the plan and whether the whole approach provided certainty to developers and land owners.

The inspector, Jonathan Bore, gave a refreshing introduction to the EiP saying he would give guidance and rulings as he went along, instead of the usual delay at the conclusion of the EiP, which can often be several months. Without too much ceremony, the inspector went straight into the matters at hand by starting with the housing numbers.

He drew gasps of surprise when he bluntly stated to the room, which included the council, residents’ groups including Protect Our Waverley (POW), and CPRE, that no authority is an island and immune to providing much needed additional housing required in this country, singling out the county of Surrey in particular.

Basing the housing need on 2012 household figures when the 2014 figures were available meant the housing numbers were not up to date, and so inadequate. He asked the council to come up with a better starting figure. The inspector was looking for a significant increase, perhaps 25 per cent, to take into account affordability and possibly meeting 50 per cent of the HMA’s shortfall in provision caused by Woking’s inability to meet its OAN.

The local plan EiP has been further complicated by the Secretary of State call-in earlier this spring of Waverley’s decision to approve 1,800 new homes at Dunsfold Aerodrome, which is key strategic site allocated for 2,400 new homes for the borough. The Communities Secretary refused a previous application in 2009 for a 2,600-home development on the site on the grounds of transport impacts and prematurity. It has been announced that the public inquiry for the latest call-in will start on July 18 and run for 12 days. If the approval is overturned, the council will have to find 2,400 new homes elsewhere in the borough, on top of the additional numbers the inspector has already indicated.

The local plan EiP itself will resume again tomorrow (July 4), concluding on Thursday.

Housing White Paper Finally Unveiled

Make no mistake, a shift in focus from home ownership to affordable renting is a hugely significant shift in Conservative party policy. Even the title of the Housing White Paper, ‘Fixing Our Broken Housing Market’ is an admission from the government that more needs to be done to tackle the so-called housing crisis. In his statement to parliament, Communities Minister Sajid Javid emphasised that not enough houses have been built for decades. That may be true, but this White Paper perhaps isn’t the bold new approach to planning we were promised.

The emphasis of the White Paper is to speed up the pace of development, introducing a ‘use it or lose it’ approach to ‘landbanking’ developers who do not act quickly to develop the land they own through Completion Notices.

Javid also welcomed new approaches to housebuilding, such as the option to build pre-fabricated houses off-site, an idea which is already being progressed. Perhaps more interestingly he also hinted at a tougher approach to local authorities’ local plans – announcing that plans must start from an honest assessment of their housing needs and ensure that neighbouring local authorities work together to ensure difficult decisions are not ducked. The start of this process is a consultation on a standard methodology for assessing housing need which will then lead to a “housing delivery test”. We have yet to see if this will make a difference.

As with every housing minister over the past 20 years, Javid argued that the planning process must be accelerated. He announced a number of small measures designed to help slim down the process and make it more transparent. A much trailed theme was to tackle onerous planning conditions while at the same time exploring an ominous sounding “new approach to how developers contribute to infrastructure”.

He also announced measures to deter unnecessary refusals at committee  by introducing a fee to the authority if the appeal is successful. Even when permission is granted, it can be too long before local people benefit from new housing therefore Developers will be encouraged to complete new homes as quickly as possible with possible penalties for under delivery.

Nevertheless, the government has ducked the difficult decision on Green Belt in the face of opposition from within its own ranks and the special circumstances clause remains intact. Instead, Javid has proposed the focus should be on increased density within existing settlements and new communities. This was praised by a number of Conservative MPs (mostly representing rural constituencies) during the debate following the announcement of the white paper, however several Labour MPs (broadly urban based) said that it may be necessary to build on parts of the Green Belt in order to meet the housing need in some areas.

Javid used the opportunity to re-announce the £2.3bn Housing Infrastructure Fund designed to support infrastructure improvements to new communities. This will be matched with a range of measures to make it easier for both developers and local authorities to build more houses, however these would come with conditions to hold them to account. For example, although local authorities will be given extra powers to facilitate more housebuilding, they will also be expected to demonstrate how they are using these powers through a new housing delivery test.

Immediate reaction to the white paper was certainly mixed, with some saying the plans do not go far enough to tackle homelessness or increasing rents in the private rented sector. Indeed, the first response to the paper from Shadow Secretary of State for Housing and Planning, John Healey, was ‘Is this it?’. Perhaps the most damning criticism of the package has even come from former Conservative housing minister Grant Shapps who claimed that the plans ‘won’t make much difference’.

A summary of all the policies announced in today’s white paper can be found here.

The White Paper in full can be accessed here.

 

Westminster Briefing: Housing and Planning

Transforming Generation Rent into Generation Buy: The Housing & Planning Bill, Starter Homes & Affordable Housing

Thursday 18th February 2016: 11.00am – 3.30pm (including networking lunch)110 Rochester Row, Victoria, London

Confirmed Speakers Include:

  • Mike Kiely, Chair, Planning Officers Society
  • Andrew Taylor, Chief Executive, Sutton Housing Partnership
  • Tim Baldwin, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers
  • Robin Tetlow, Chairman, Tetlow King Planning
  • Tony Crook CBE FAcSS FRTPI, Emeritus Professor of Planning, University of Sheffield
  • Trevor Pask, Researcher, De Montford University
  • Nick Wood-Dow, Deputy Chairman, Chelgate (event chair)

Context:

The supply of affordable housing for sale is a big political issue the Government is determined to do something about. The Housing & Planning Bill, currently making its way through parliament, legislates for two of its key measures in response; the introduction of a new class of ‘Starter Homes’ available at discount to first time buyers under the age of 40 and the extension of the Right to Buy to Housing Association properties. Reactions to these and other measures have been mixed with concern among some that prioritising homes for sale will have an adverse impact on the supply of affordable homes available to rent. Additionally, much of the detail about implementing the policies will come in secondary legislation at a later date.

Join Westminster Briefing on 18th February for an early look at how the Housing & Planning Bill measures will be delivered and the affects they will have on the provision of affordable homes both to rent and buy.

Key Issues to be Addressed Include:

  • A legal duty on local authorities to promote the supply of Starter Homes
  • Reporting actions taken to meet the new duty
  • Regulations requiring Starter Homes to be included on all reasonably sized sites
  • Section 106 agreements and their part in delivering the new homes
  • Reconciling centrally set targets with the localism of the NPPF
  • Accessing new Government funding
  • The impacts of Starter Homes policy on the affordable housing mix
  • Right to Buy, its impact on ownership and making sure rental stock is properly replaced
  • News powers for the Sec of State & changes to be made in secondary legislation

The Event:

The morning session will provide an up-to-date brief on Housing & Planning Bill measures for Starter Homes and Government plans to increase home ownership.

The afternoon will focus on how the reforms will impact the supply of affordable rental homes.

Who Should Attend?

Anyone with an interest in affordable housing, including: local government housing officers; planning officers; elected members; Housing Associations; developers; & solicitors.

Booking & discount

For further information and to book, please go to the Westminster Briefing website. For a 15 per cent discount enter CHELGATE2016 in the Discount Code box at the bottom of the registration page.