Reforms set out in Labour’s Lyons Housing Review, published today, could increase the capacity and output of SME house builders needed to deliver 200,000 new homes a year, according to the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).
The report, by Sir Michael Lyons, outlines major housing policies for England designed to achieve the Labour Party’s target of building 200,000 new homes a year by 2020. These include measures intended to expand the number of small firms delivering projects, such as a “Help to Build” scheme that would underwrite loans to small builders and a plan to fast-track planning on small sites.
Labour leader Ed Miliband said he would accept the measures related to SMEs as a part of official housing policy.
Commenting on the Review’s recommendations, Brian Berry, chief executive of the FMB, said: “Sir Michael Lyons has rightly identified the SME house building sector as a crucial part of the housing sector’s capacity. It is very pleasing to see that he has recognised the barriers that small house builders face, which prevent them from building the homes we need, such as access to finance and a shortage of small sites, and has put forward a package of measures to address them.”
The Lyons report wants SMEs and local authorities to play a greater role in delivering 200,000 homes a year
Berry continued: “As well as endorsing the Help to Build loan guarantee initiative, which Labour is already in the process of developing, the report makes the groundbreaking recommendation of a return to a simpler ‘redline’ system for outline planning applications for smaller sites.
“The focus across the whole of the report of pushing more land into the system is also extremely welcome and Lyons rightly highlights the need for a focus within this on the identification of smaller sites and packaging opportunities for SMEs as part of larger developments.”
The independent Lyons Review, commissioned by Labour in September 2013, recommends a range of policies designed to increase capacity and drive competition in the house building industry.
Where councils fail to deliver a house building plan for their area based on housing needs, it recommends that the planning inspectorate should have powers to step in.
It said local authorities should be able to designate “housing growth areas” in which they will have powers to assemble land and provide certainty that building will take place. Once the new homes are built, first-time buyers would be given priority access to them for a period of two months.
In addition, it said local authorities should be able to restrict the sale of homes in these areas so they cannot be sold for buy-to-let or buy-to-leave-empty properties.
“We will get Britain building again by insisting local authorities have a plan to meet the need for housing in their area – and that the big developers play their part rather than hold land back.”
Ed Miliband
Additional measures include: powers for local authorities to form partnerships, similar to the Olympic-style New Homes Corporations, to build homes quickly; financial incentives for councils to deliver new garden cities and suburbs; the measures to expand the number of small firms taking part.
It also says the next government should reaffirm its commitment to a “genuine zero carbon standard” for new homes and set out a “clear trajectory” for all homes to achieve this.
It also recommends reversing the current government’s proposed exemption for small housing developments from the Allowable Solutions element of the zero carbon standard.
Speaking in Milton Keynes today, Ed Miliband said: “We will get Britain building again by insisting local authorities have a plan to meet the need for housing in their area – and that the big developers play their part rather than hold land back.”
“We will also make sure that communities get the benefit from new home development by guaranteeing that where communities take the lead in bringing forward additional developments, a significant proportion of homes on those sites cannot be bought by anyone before first-time buyers from the area have been given the chance. This is not only a fairer system, it is also one which will encourage local communities and local authorities to support the development that our country so desperately needs.”
Sir Michael Lyons said: “We will need the industry to do more, get smaller house builders back into business, tap potential in the construction industry, attract new enterprise and unlock potential for housing associations to do more. This will reverse the shrinking capacity in a key UK industry and create 230,000 new jobs whilst adding 1.2% to GDP.”
