WOBO acknowledges the housing proposals of the UK Government and the need to revise the planning framework – it is interesting to see that many of the comments and concerns are not dissimilar to those being experienced within the global setting
INDUSTRY REACTS TO NATIONAL PLANNING POLICY FRAMEWORK CHANGES
The construction industry has reacted with a range of positive and negative statements to the changes announced to the National Planning Policy Framework, which could have major implications for the housebuilding sector in 2025, although there remain several areas which require further clarity.
With the HBF reporting that new build completions saw a significant decline of 6.5% over 2024, the sector faces a raft of challenges which the NPPF tweaks are designed to ease, including £100m of funding for local authorities to complete their plans for development.
Further clarity is awaited including precise definition of what will constitute ‘grey belt’ development, as well as how the new standard method for calculating need will play out in reality. However, Robert Gowing, Planning Partner at legal firm Eversheds Sutherland said that “many should welcome the amendments and refinements made to the definition of ‘grey belt’ as it now makes more clear it can be any green belt land (whether or not it was previously developed), and that it only needs to be shown to not strongly contribute towards any of 3 of the 5 green belt purposes” [rather than a limited contribution to all five as previously proposed.
Commentators mentioned the challenge of local mandatory housing targets, and many welcomed the “presumption in favour of sustainable development,” as well as recognition of the importance of SME housebuilders in delivering the homes needed, and the need to recruit many more than the 300 extra planning officers pledged by the Ministry. In addition, the broadening of brownfield definitions and the focus on more affordable housing (albeit with local discretion) as a “golden rule” of potential grey belt development were welcomed, as was the focus on pushing sustainable drainage and transport provision.
Speaking to an audience of small housebuilders and other members of the Federation of Master Builders at the organisation’s winter reception at the House of Lords, Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook said the Government is “wholly committed to supporting SME housebuilders and increasing competition in the market,” because of an imbalance in favour of larger housebuilders, but defended the freezing of small site allocations at 10%.
Pennycook said that the recent changes to the National Planning Policy Framework would see “significantly more land released into the system and more permissions for SME housebuilders.” However he acknowledged that it “didn’t go as far as many of you would have liked in terms of the mandatory allocation of small sites ,” but he said that it was for “very good reasons…we were very worried about the impact that would have on strained local planning authorities, and that it might have had unintended consequences.”
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING SETS OUT NPPF CHANGES PAVING THE WAY FOR GREY BELT DEVELOPMENT
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has confirmed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework, including policies on freeing up the green belt and placing the onus on local authorities to deliver local plans or have the Government dictate their housing needs.
Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook announced that local authorities will be given 12 weeks to put Local Plans in place which will confirm housebuilding targets, otherwise they will face sanctions including the Government stepping in to create plans on their behalf to assist delivery of housing numbers.
The Government’s Planning & Infrastructure Bill will be introduced “in the New Year,” said Pennycook, launching the publication of the new National Planning Policy Framework, including the ‘golden rules’ which will allow grey belt schemes to go ahead once their criteria have been confirmed in 2025 following an industry consultation. The revised NPPF generally defines grey belt as “land in the Green Belt comprising previously developed land and/or any other land that, in either case, does not strongly contribute to any of the purposes”
Small housebuilders will not be able to grow their market share and contribute to the Government’s ambitious housebuilding targets unless a series of key barriers are removed to meet the Housing Minister’s aim to diversify the market.
This is the finding of a new report, ‘Supporting SME Housebuilders: Challenges and Opportunities’, commissioned by the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). It makes a series of recommendations for the Government to make “targeted interventions to create a level playing field between SMEs and larger builders, and address critical barriers to unlock SME potential, leading to increased housing variety, sustainable practices, and innovation.” Measures proposed include low-interest loans, apprenticeship schemes, and reduced costs.