Under the proposals from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), councils will have greater responsibility to ensure they meet the housing needs of their area, with plans for the next 15 years required to make sure there are no delays in getting the right homes to market.
The DCLG is also looking to tackle current obstacles in the planning process, making it easier to create the right mix of housing in a particular area, and it has launched a National Brownfield Strategy consultation, with the aim of bringing more sites online.
Yvette Cooper, Housing Minister, said: “We need to build more and better quality homes for the next generation. If we don’t deliver more homes, we will see growing pressures on first-time buyers, overcrowding, and social housing waiting lists. The new planning rules will support more homes for families. While we need more new homes for first-time buyers and single households, we must insist on more family homes as bad housing for children can haunt them for the rest of their lives.”
Many within the industry have pointed to a chronic shortage of family homes being built in recent months, especially in urban areas.
Rachel Snow, head of external affairs at the Building Societies Association, commented: “It’s sensible that councils think about the long-term needs of the community. It is not just affordability and availability that is important as without accommodation for young families, it is likely key workers will have to move out and in the long-term, the local economy will suffer.
“Changing planning laws is only the first step. This needs to be backed up by building the right homes and keeping them within the affordability bracket.”
