Communities
Secretary Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP has welcomed Homes
England Strategic Plan, describing the vision as pivotal to helping deliver
the homes that communities need.
Since their launch
in January, Homes England has a remit to adopt a more commercial approach to
acquiring, preparing, managing and developing land in areas of high demand.
Their strategic plan
sets out how they will use these powers together with their expertise and
significant government investment to drive forward key programmes and play a
major role in making the housing market work for everyone.
The new plan sets
out far-reaching delivery objectives:
- Unlock public and private
land where the market will not, to get more homes built where they are
needed
- Ensure a range of investment
products are available to support housebuilding and infrastructure,
including more affordable housing and homes for rent, where the market is
not acting
- Improve construction
productivity
- Create a more resilient and
competitive market by supporting smaller builders and new entrants, and
promoting better design and higher quality homes
- Offer expert support for
priority locations, helping to create and deliver more ambitious plans to
get more homes built
- Effectively deliver home
ownership products, providing an industry standard service to consumers
Nick Walkley, Homes
England Chief Executive, said: "The new Homes England is all about making
homes happen – and our new 5-year plan sets out our ambitious new approach.
"We are
committing to boosting housing supply, productivity, innovation, quality,
skills and modern methods of construction to help make a more diverse and
resilient market. In return, we are calling for partners and the wider industry
who share our ambition to challenge traditional norms and build better homes
faster."
Homes England is
already making significant progress. High-profile deals forged in recent months
include: major land acquisitions in Sussex and Plymouth; a £1bn lending
alliance with Barclays to support smaller builders; a new joint venture with
Kier’s residential arm; and infrastructure-led developments at Ebbsfleet and
Northstowe.
The five-year
Strategic Plan follows the Budget announcement of seven more strategic
partnerships with housing associations, which will deliver an additional 13,475
affordable homes by March 2022.
The new partnerships
will secure a total of £653m in funding from the Affordable Homes Programme,
delivered through Homes England, including homes for social rent in areas of
high affordability pressures.
This is in addition
to the first eight strategic partnership deals announced in early July,
bringing the total number of additional affordable homes that will be delivered
to 27,755.
