15 October 2015
A new piece of government legislation sets out plans to double the number of self build and custom build homes by the end of the decade.
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The Housing and Planning Bill, introduced this week, amends and supplements the duties placed on councils under the Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015 and will require local planning authorities to ensure that there are sufficient serviced permissioned plots to meet the local demand from people wishing to build their own homes. This demand will be evidenced by the number of entries added to council-owned registers within a 12-month time period.
However, the new legislation – set to meet the government’s target of building 20,000 self/custom build homes annually by 2020 – would also allow councils to apply to the secretary of state for an exemption from the requirement if regulations specify “cases or circumstances” allowing this to occur.
The Bill also includes a package of other planning reforms to boost housebuilding, including a duty to promote the development of starter homes, a new ‘permission in principle’ and further measures to tackle local planning authority under-performance.
In a separate measure, the government has additionally announced that it will make the temporary permitted development rights, which allow offices to be converted to new homes without the need for planning permission, a permanent fixture.
