Housing developer Pocket Living has launched a campaign encouraging the government to boost the industry of SME housebuilders in the UK.
There are 10 recommendations on how SME development can be improved, while industry heavyweights backing the campaign include Berkeley Group, Chartered Institute of Building, Clarion Housing Group, Southern Housing, British Land, Related, and Peabody.
Currently, SMEs are responsible for only 10% of the UK’s housing output, a significant drop from the 1960s and 70s when they contributed nearly 50% of new homes. This percentage is also considerably lower than that of many European countries.
The 10 point plan is as follows:
- Empowering Homes England – By Paul Rickard Create up to 25 new bespoke Homes England SME Managers and include a metric within Homes England’s annual performance review requiring at least 15% of housing delivery to come from SMEs.
- Finish Tax Reform to Drive Investment into New Brownfield Homes – By Andrew White. Reform tax to allow full expensing of build costs for new homes when the money is spent, rather than when they are finally sold.
- Small Sites Planning Policy – By Marc Vlessing OBE. Unlock the delivery of thousands of homes through minor tweaks to Para 70 in the NPPF, allowing for a presumption in favour of development for small brownfield sites.
- Small, but Perfectly Formed – By Russell Curtis. Deliver suburban design guides to offer greater certainty, potentially unlocking 900,000 homes within a 10-minute walk from major train stations in London alone.
- Implement a National Public Land Portal for Small Sites – By Hugo Owen Councils across England and Wales possess over 300,000 unused small sites. A national public land portal dedicated to small sites for SMEs could facilitate their development.
- Implementing Quotas for SME Housebuilders in the Local Plan Process – By David Parry. Implement a quota of allocations per local plan for local SMEs to ensure they continue to play a role in the housing market.
- Exploring the Kiwi Approach to Planning Committee Procedures – By Grant Leggett. Draw upon New Zealand’s approach by reforming the committee process so only the largest applications are referred and depoliticise the process by including experts on the panel.
- Helping People on and Up the Housing Ladder – By Gary Day & Suzanne Revel. Refine the national housebuilding target to provide for a minimum of 10% as specialist housing for older people and offer greater certainty through a presumption in favour of specialist housing on small sides.
- Creating Certainty for Planning Decisions Through a Chief Planner – By Georgina McCrae. Encourage Local Planning Authorities to employ a Chief Planning Officer responsible for ensuring decisions align with the adopted and up-to-date Local Plan.
- The Growing Challenge of Rights of Light – By Jonathan Lonergan & Jamie Parkes. Right of Light liabilities can reach upwards of £1.5 million for a 100-home scheme. The government should encourage all local authorities to use pre-existing statutory powers under s.203 to ensure small sites remain viable.
David Thomas, chief executive, Barratt Developments, said: “We welcome this report and its recommendations which are a positive and creative addition to the debate on housing policy.
“SMEs are vital to housing delivery, and we’d encourage the government to look at ways they can be supported alongside other providers in the sector.”
Paul Rickard, managing director, Pocket Living, said: “As a sector, we are staring down the barrel of extinction, and it’s time for the government to take action before it’s too late.
“Without a flourishing SME housebuilding sector, there is no way the government will deliver on its promise of 1.5 million homes by the end of this term.”