31 March 2015
Steps have been announced by the Government to boost the self and custom build industry and enable even more people to live in a home built or commissioned by themselves.
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New enterprise to steer Garden City
A new Urban Development Corporation has been unveiled which will help deliver the first Garden City for 100 years at Ebbsfleet featuring up to 15,000 new homes.
It is understood that the scheme will lead to a number of self and custom build opportunities as the Government will require the new enterprise to include significant provision for people who want to build their own homes, although the exact details are still unclear at this time.
Self build Bill receives Royal Assent
There will be new support from councils for aspiring self and custom builders in their area to find suitable plots of land to get their projects off the drawing board after a private member’s bill finally received Royal Assent.
The ‘Self-Build and Custom Housebuilding Act‘, lobbied by Conservative MP Richard Bacon with backing from the government, brings forward the first part of the Right to Build, by requiring councils to establish local registers of people looking to buy plots of land to commission or build their own home. The Act also requires councils to take account of the demand for self and custom build when exercising their planning housing, regeneration and land disposal functions.
The government has also published its response to its recent consultation on the Right to Build which this Act will help to take forward.
Housing Minister Brandon Lewis said: “We’re working across all parts of the housing industry to get the country building again and its working, with housebuilding levels at their highest since 2007 and planning permission granted on 253,000 homes in the last year alone. Today’s measures maintain that momentum.”
