Editor: The prime minister’s party conference speech had little mention of the housebuilding sector – in fact, it had zero. We did hear, however, that if we are to “create change and drive growth across our country”, then “we must get our infrastructure right”.
Why, then, aren’t we talking about the desperate lack of grid connectivity or the dwindling local planning teams that are preventing homes being built, to name but two of the problems facing businesses like ours?
There are a number of things that need to be addressed. The first is aligning local and central government planning. Without a mandatory national housebuilding target, planning authorities will continue to judge and refuse schemes differently based on nutrients, solar panels, traffic or groundwater, for example. We need clear guidelines for these.
And with delays come mounting caseloads. So, while government may be pushing for a slimmed-down civil service, we also need to see investment for local planning teams to get through the backlog of applications.
Most critically, we need to unblock the inertia that is caused by infrastructure delays. We can build homes as quickly as we like, but new homes are more than bricks and mortar. Getting our all-electric sustainable homes connected to the grid is a non-starter, as it doesn’t have the capacity and the legal processes are so protracted. Instead, we now build our own substations. But we unfortunately have fewer options when it comes to providing water sources or installing new traffic lights required for Section 106.
Until homes are liveable and infrastructure contracts fulfilled, housebuilders are unable to recycle capital and move on to their next projects, further delaying the time it takes to deliver the homes the UK so badly needs.
As eyes turned to Liverpool this week, I was reassured to see the opposition dedicate far more attention to housing. In the coming months, we’ll be looking for holistic solutions aimed at tackling the issues affecting delivery as well as the policy vacuum that sits above the industry.
Mark Booth, co-founder, Hayfield
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