Hundreds of thousands of new homes stuck in the planning system or partially
built will be accelerated to help end the housing crisis and drive growth,
thanks to the New Homes Accelerator launched by the Deputy Prime Minister.
An experienced team from the Ministry of Housing and Homes England will work
across government and with local councils to accelerate the buildout of housing
schemes delayed by planning and red tape to drive economic growth across every
part of the country.
They will hit the ground running by bringing together key players, including
government agencies, local planning departments and housebuilders, who will
work to resolve specific local issues and deploy planning experts on the ground
to work through blockages at each site identified. This includes looking at
barriers to affordable housing delivery where relevant.
Interventions could see the New Homes Accelerator provide resources to
support local planning capacity where there are barriers and work across the
board to make sure planning decisions are made in a timely fashion.
Government analysis suggests 200 large sites have outline or detailed plans
ready to go but are yet to begin construction, and the team is already getting
started on some of those that would benefit from early interventions. The
Accelerator will focus on lending a helping hand to frustrated housebuilders
and local communities who want to play their part to get Britain building
again, in turn driving local and economic growth.
Deputy Prime Minister, Angela
Rayner said: “For far too long the delivery of tens
of thousands of new homes has been held back by a failure to make sure the
development system is working as it should.
“This government has a moral obligation to do everything within our power to
build the homes that people desperately need and we won’t hesitate to intervene
where we need to.
“Our New Homes Accelerator will quickly identify blockages, fix problems and
support local authorities and developers to get shovels in the ground.”
Further work will get underway to accelerate sites including Stretton Hall
in Leicestershire, Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community in Essex, and
Biggleswade Garden Community in Central Bedfordshire which have the potential
to unlock more than 10,000 new homes when completed.
The New Homes Accelerator was announced as part of the Chancellor’s speech
outlining the Government’s national mission to drive growth in July and since
then, four large housing sites are already progressing that will deliver over
14,000 homes across Liverpool, Worcester, Northstowe and Sutton
Coldfield.
A call for evidence has been launched today calling upon landowners, local
authorities and housebuilders to come forward with details of blocked sites
that have significant planning issues, so the Government can better understand
the scale of the problem across the country, in order to tackle the obstacles
that are preventing the delivery of new homes.
David O’Leary, Executive Director
of the Home Builders Federation said: “The planning
process and everything associated with it delivers too little land and has long
been a significant constraint on house building. Government has shown a welcome
desire in the weeks since the election to address the problems. A lack of
planning department capacity and misaligned incentives for other public bodies
and statutory consultees has created a process with huge uncertainty. This
creates an abundance of risk resulting in longer development timescales and
severe challenges in particular for small and medium-sized house
builders.
“Adopting a pragmatic approach to planning will increase the pace at which
new homes are built and help to turn around ailing housing supply. Unlocking
homes and delivering new communities will boost growth and support job creation
while providing young people with access to new, more affordable housing. The
housing market is complex and we look forward to working with government to
ensure that all aspects of the housing market are functioning more
effectively.”
The launch of the New Homes Accelerator builds on wider government plans to
turbocharge housebuilding, improve local decision-making and modernise the
planning system through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill recently announced
at the King’s Speech.
This is alongside the Government’s overhaul of the planning system that will
see new mandatory housing targets for councils and bolster local resources with
300 additional planning officers.
