6 December 2012
Self builders should see some benefits from measures announced in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, including the Government’s pledge to support a number of new Garden City developments and other extensions to towns and villages. The Government has also committed to speed up the time taken for planning applications to be decided.
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These relaxations could, in time, make it easier for self builders to find a site and to secure planning permission for a new home.
But the proposals do not go far enough, says the National Self Build Association (NaSBA). “We asked the Government to consider a number of more radical solutions to help kick start the country’s housing programme. These included a suggestion that the ‘Build Now, Pay Later’ scheme should be opened up to self builders too; this scheme enables big developers to only pay for Government land they acquire after they have built and sold the homes,” explained NaSBA chair Ted Stevens. “If individual self builders could acquire surplus Government land now, build on it and only pay for the land when construction was complete we believe there would be a stampede of self builders chasing the plots that were made available. And this would have led to a huge increase in construction activity at a local level, benefitting local communities and local economies.”
“We do, however, welcome the suggestion that there might be some significant new extensions to towns and villages – as this should open up land to would-be self builders.”
The Statement confirmed the Government’scommitment to ensure 120,000 new homes are built as part of its overall push to invest in more infrastructure projects.
National Housing Federation chief executive, David Orr, said: “We welcome the Chancellor’s commitment to building 120,000 new homes by using some of the funding set aside for infrastructure.On top of September’s housing stimulus package, this is a step in the right direction to solving our country’s housing crisis. As always, the devil is in the detail and we look forward to learning more about this,” he said.
“The extra money made available to the Department of Communities and Local Government to buy surplus public sector land is welcome, but it is at a much smaller scale than we expected. It is imperative that the Government moves forward quickly with this and ensures the rapid release of land for new homes.”
