May 14 2007
Industry also warns against regulatory complexity and cost if housing targets are to be achieved
In its submission to the Callcutt Review of Housebuilding Delivery, the Home Builders Federation (HBF) has stressed that having an adequate supply of land with implementable planning permission is the key to achieving 200,000 sustainable new homes per annum by 2016.
Responding to the call for evidence from the Callcutt Review, HBF has outlined six areas which it believes are priority conditions for the industry to be able meet the demand for new homes:
- An adequate supply of land with implementable planning permission
- Adequate infrastructure
- The ability to build homes people want to buy
- Competitive returns for shareholders
- Residual land values that bring forward land for housing development
- A reduction in the complexity and cost of regulation
Whilst issues such as skills, construction methods, materials and finance are unlikely to present insurmountable barriers because they are largely within the control of the home building industry and its suppliers, the HBF is calling for the Government to ensure that policy and regulation do not create barriers to achieving the housing target or prevent new entrants from coming into the market.
One major theme of HBF’s submission is growing industry concern about the complexity and cost of policy and regulation. The escalating cost impact on land values is already constraining housing output, even before the zero-carbon target or a proposed Planning-gain Supplement is factored into the equation. A recent report for English Partnerships put the cost of achieving Code Level 5 at £26,000 to £36,000 per ‘traditional’ dwelling, a land cost of £1.0-1.4 million per hectare at current densities. Zero-carbon homes, at Code Level 6, will cost even more.
Commenting on HBF’s submission, HBF Executive Chairman, Stewart Baseley says:
“The industry stands united with the Government in its aspiration to build 200,000 sustainable new homes per annum by 2016. There is certainly no significant impediment on the industry side to achieving this target. The success or failure of building the sustainable homes that Britain needs hinges on having a sufficient and steady supply of developable land with implementable planning permissions. At a time when the amount of land developed annually has actually declined by 10 per cent in recent years, it is difficult to overstate this point.”