23/03/2017

1

HOUSING WHITE PAPER – ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS

The White Paper ‘Collection’ includes…….• White Paper itself – ‘Fixing our broken housing market’

• Consultation on White Paper

• Consultation on Build to Rent

• Govt responses to;- Consultation on changes to National Policy

- Consultation on starter homes regs

- Report of the Local Plans Expert Group

- CIL review report to Govt

4 Main Steps to fix the broken housing market……

• Planning for the right homes in the right places

• Building homes faster

• Diversifying the market

• Helping people now

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More homes in the right places

• NPPF changes are proposed, requiring;

- LPA’s to have a clear strategy to maximise use of suitable land, and accommodate their housing requirements unless policies elsewhere in the NPPFindicate otherwise.

- Great weight to be attached to the value of using suitable brownfield land within settlements for homes.

What’s new?

More homes in the right places

Amended NPPF will…..

• Address the particular scope for higher-density housing in urban locations, that are well served by public transport.

More homes in the right places

Amended NPPF will….

• Ensure that the density and form of development reflect the character, accessibility and infrastructure capacity of an area.

• Take a flexible approach in adopting and applying policy and guidance that could inhibit these objectives in particular circumstances; for example, avoiding a rigid application of open space standards if there is adequate provision in the wider area.

More homes in the right places

• The Govt will review the Nationally Described Space Standard to ensure greater local housing choice……Pocket Living etc

• Encourage small to mid-scale developers

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Green Belt

• Will introduce an ‘exceptional circumstances’ definition.

• LPAs should only amend GB boundaries when they can demonstrate that they have examined fully all other reasonable options for meeting their identified dev requirements, including;

- effective use of brownfield sites

- potential of underused land

- optimising density

- can other authorities help?

Green Belt

• Where land is removed from the GB, local policies should require the impact to be offset by improvements to quality / accessibility of remaining GB land.

• When undertaking GB Reviews LPAs should look first at GB land that is previously developed and/or which surrounds transport hubs.

Housing Requirements

• Will consult on a more standardised approach to assessing housing requirements.

• From April 2018 new methodology will apply as baseline for assessing 5 year housing land supply.(subject to consultation)

• LPAs expected to have clear policies for addressing the housing requirements of groups with particular needs eg older and disabled people

Housing Delivery Test

• Holding LPAs to account!

• Intended to highlight whether LPAs are on target with housebuilding rates, and trigger a response if they’re not.

• Net additional dwellings to be measured from a 3 year rolling average.

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Housing Delivery Test

• From Nov 17, if delivery < 95%, LPA has to publish an Action Plan to resolve problem.

• From Nov 17, if delivery <85%, LPA has to add a 20% buffer on their 5 year HLS

• From Nov 18, if delivery <25%, presumption in favour of sustainable development applies

• From Nov 19, if delivery <45%, presumption applies

• From Nov 20, if delivery <65%, presumption applies

And maybe………

• Appeal Fees

• Developer’s track record

• 2 year implementation for reserved matters

• Application fees up by 20% from July 17 (if LPAs commit to invest income to planning department)

• CIL – to be reviewed – Autumn Budget

To conclude……

• Have to wait and see

• New NPPF expected in the Summer

• CIL and OAN updates in the Autumn

• Respond to the Consultation (by 2nd May)

THAMES VALLEY HOUSING LAND SUPPLY UPDATE

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Slough

Elmbridge

Woking

Ru

shm

oo

r

Hart

West Berkshire

Cherwell

Wokingham

Aylesbury Vale

Basingstoke and Dean

Reading

Chiltern

RBWM

Surrey Heath

Oxford

Vale of Whitehorse

South Oxfordshire

Bracknell

Wycombe District

South Buckinghamshire

Runnymede

Guildford

Do have 5yr HLS

Don’t have 5yr HLS

Don’t have 3yr HLS

Borderline if they have a 5yr HLS (<6)

Spelthorne

Local Authority position on 5yr HLS

Authority 5 yr HLSAylesbury Vale 4.9

Basingstoke and Deane 5.3/5.8 (with buffer)

Bracknell Forest 3.57

Cherwell 5.6

Chiltern 3.5

Elmbridge 7.51

Guildford 2.1

Hart 6.32

Oxford Shortfall

RBWM Shortfall

Reading 5.83

Runnymede Shortfall

Rushmoor 6

Slough 8.3

South Bucks (Joint Chiltern and South Bucks)

Shortfall

South Oxfordshire 4.6

Spelthorne >5

Surrey Heath 4.1

Vale of White Horse 4.1

West Berkshire 5.5

Woking 7.7

Wokingham 5.5

Wycombe 3.8

Recent housing case lawDaventry

• Gladman Vs Daventry District Council

• Court of appeal – public interest of plan led system

Impacts of Daventry

• Inspector considering Residential schemes within local green gap – Clacton on Sea, Essex

• Development contrary to green gap policy (2007), deficit in 5 yr. Hls.

• Although policy is ‘old’, consistent with the NPPF

• Also regard for Hopkins, minimal degree of Hls shortfall and improvements in Hls position by LPA, significant weight to be given to green gap policy

WMS legal challenge update

• WMS – Gavin Barwell 12th Dec 2016

• NP housing policies not ‘out of date’ within 2 years of the WMS or NP adoption, NP allocated site for housing, LPA has a 3 year supply

• Challenge 1. Inadequate consultation

2. Need to over-allocate to provide 3 Yr supply

3. NP use for housing allocation

4. Increased risk reducing delivery

5. Absence of Equality Impact Assessment

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THE ECONOMIC CASE FOR HOUSING

The Economic Case for Housing

Environmental Social Economic

NPPF – 3 dimensions to sustainable development

Delivering the Value of Planning

RTPI, August 2016:

“Planning can produce significant benefits for society, including delivering more and better housing development…planners themselves need to talk much more about how better economic as well as social and environmental outcomes can be delivered through well-planned development.”

Fixing the Broken Market

• Housing White Paper

• Since 1998 – average house prices: average earnings more than doubled

• Low levels of house building – less work for construction sector

• 225,000-275,000 more homes per annum

• What do the housebuilding stats look like?

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Housing Completions in England Economic Benefits of Building More Homes

200-300k new homes per annum

Construction impact

500-800k jobs

£30-£45bn GVA

Operational impact

£5-£8bn household

spend

£300-£460m

Council Tax

Other Issues to Consider

Ageing population

Graduate retention

Role of small housebuilders

Ageing Population

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Graduate Retention

• Almost half of new graduates are ‘bouncers’, moving to one city to study, then leaving for another city straight after graduation:

• Manchester: 67%• Birmingham: 76% • Southampton: 86%

• Cities need to put in place the economic fundamentals to support growth: transport, housing & planning

Source: Centre for Cities, The Great British Brain Drain, November 2016

Role of Smaller Housebuilders

• HBF (2017)• 1988 – small housebuilders (1-100 units p.a.)

accounted for 4 in 10 new build homes. Now approaching 1 in 10

• Return to 2007 levels could boost supply by 25,000 homes p.a.

• Planning approval periods (NLP, 2016)• 2.8 years (0-99 homes). • 4.1 years (100-499 homes) • 5.6 years (1,000-1,499 homes) • 6.9 years (2,000+ homes)

ANY QUESTIONS?