25 May 2012
A Planners’ seminar, organised by The National Self Build Association (NaSBA), and designed to support local authority planners, has reinforced how positive planning plays a vital role in the expansion of self build as a mainstream route to housing.
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Attendees at the day-long event, hosted by Jewson’s at their Greenworks Academy in Birmingham, were welcomed by a video message from Kevin McCloud, the recently appointed Self Build Champion, which reinforced how positive planning can play a valuable and important role in the expansion of self-build as a mainstream route to housing.
Kevin McCloud’s Video Message |
The seminars, which are part of a series, are designed as part of NaSBA’s “Action Plan to promote the growth of self build housing”, and are presented with central government support as part of a wider programme to promote growth in the house building market.
Self Build can deliver evocative, exciting proposals
The event highlighted regulation and red tape as one of the barriers to growth for the sector, but also included two real case studies bringing theory into practice and showing how self build can deliver evocative and exciting proposals with the support of local authority policy making.
Jackson Moulding, Director of Ecomotive, spoke about a community self build project at Ashley Vale which balances sustainability and low cost in an award-winning scheme. Helen Town from Cherwell District Council discussed how Cherwell became ”a regional centre of excellence for tackling homelessness” through its serviced self build plots, which led to it receiving a Local Government Award in 2012.
The afternoon workshop session dealt with the policy challenges surrounding self build including; Local Policy Development, impact on resources, adapting development management, assembling a suitable evidence base and links to neighbourhood planning.
Event organiser and speaker, Sally Tagg MD, from Foxley Tagg Planning commented: “The seminars are aimed at Local Authority Planners, Enablers, Housing officers and Registered Housing Landlords. We want to engage with professionals at the coalface, who can facilitate change by getting behind the provision of new policies to make things happen. This dialogue is essential for the industry and NaSBA moving forward”.
If you are interested in attending the next workshop, please click here for details.
