DLUHC’s latest data for custom and self build in England shows that while the number of individuals and groups on the register has grown modestly, the number of permissions fell.
In addition, the number of planning permissions granted for plots for custom and self build was 6,374, a reduction of 23% on the previous year.
In total, there are 63,662 individuals who have signed their local self build register, as well as 807 groups. But the numbers for the last 12 months until 30 October 2022 were overall down on previous figures. This showed a 34% decline in individuals and a 37% fall in the number of groups signing up.
The data is published annually by the Department of Levelling-Up, Communities and Housing, and is based on council returns for 2021-2022, running annually from 31 October to the next 30 October.
There are numerous reasons why the numbers are down, but logically a significant factor is the current economic environment. With inflation and prices skyrocketing, all housebuilding and planning applications across the board have slumped over the last 12 months, to their lowest figures in 16 years, as reported by the Department of Levelling-Up, Communities and Housing.
Repeated government commitments to overhaul planning have created uncertainty, with many local authorities freezing their local plan making process until a clearer picture emerges. This means that many fewer policies supportive of custom and self build have emerged as a result.
This has got so problematic that the Home Builders Federation (HBF) has forecast that housebuilding will fall to its lowest levels since the Second World War unless the planning system starts to support housebuilding in England.
The National Custom and Self Build Association (NaCSBA) is also aware that more councils than ever have applied tests to limit people signing up to the local self build registers, which act as a deterrent.
However, the register remain a vital tool for the sector, and must be used by the public to raise their profile. Research in 2022 found that 21% of people were unaware of the Right to Build legislation, meaning that many more people want to self build. In addition, a lack of activity in terms of permissioning enough plots to reflect demand for people wanting to custom and self build is now starting to gain more weight in planning appeals.
NaCSBA urges anyone interested in building to sign up to their local register because of this. If your authority places charges or tests that you deem unfair it has provided template letters of complaint that you can fill in.
These have a two-fold effect – they should act as secondary evidence beyond the register that you want to build locally, and highlight where you, as a resident, feel that your local planning authority’s rules are prejudicial to you in your ambition in regard to housing.
You can find and sign your local register via the Self Build Portal, access the template letter or get answers from our FAQs about what the Right to Build does – and doesn’t – deliver on this website.
Peter Johns, CEO of NaCSBA said, “The latest data is disappointing and reflects the obstacles put in place to registering by many local authorities (be it registration fees, local connection or financial tests).
“NaCSBA continues to challenge authorities where they are putting road blocks in the way, but also supporting authorities through the work of its Right to Build Task Force. We know that the numbers underestimate the level of demand by some margin – NaCSBA is currently undertaking research and analysis to demonstrate this and expects to report on it later in 2023.”
Andrew Baddeley-Chappell, Policy Director, NaCSBA said, “The drop in numbers joining the registers is a disappointment and we are in the process of undertaking a deep dive into the data. We do not believe the fall off is as a result of any reduction in the underlying desire of people to have a home built to their design and specification.
“We continue to see challenges from a proportion of planning authorities, that are contrary to the spirit and letter of the legislation – legislation that is being tightened to address some of the poor practice that have been identified. Factors such as covid, inflation and cost of living challenges may also have had an impact.
“We continue to strongly believe that low public support for new homes is closely linked to the lack of desire for the homes that are currently being delivered and that greater customer choice is the key to more and better homes.”
South Gloucestershire Council has announced the availability of six self build plots within the Charfield Gardens development, close to the market town of Wotton-under-Edge (Planning reference PT16/6924/O). The six self build plots have been launched as part of a ‘percentage policy’ scheme that requires developers to sell at least 5% of plots on residential and mixed-use sites to self and custom builders (applied on sites over 100 homes).
The size of each plot at Charfield Gardens ranges from 220m² to 254m² and are priced from £125,000. The plots are on the larger Barratt Homes development in Charfield Village, which includes permission for 121 residences and a retail unit, as well as public open space, play areas, allotments, and an orchard.
The six self build plots come with utilities, including foul and surface water drainage, water, gas, electric and telecom. Purchasers must submit a full planning application, outlining the appearance of the build, as well as outline proposals for landscaping, scale and layout.
Planning applications must be aligned with the wider design of the site, as well as the individual Plot Passport, which is a simple and succinct summary of the design parameters for a given plot.
This welcome move makes sets the council apart as a great example of a local authority working to support those people on its self build register.
Image by Mastersenaiper from Pixabay
NaCSBA has called out Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council for its “shameful actions” in amending the conditions for joining its Right to Build register to make it almost impossible for most people to sign up.
Solihull council chose to announce its new restrictions during the week of the innovative Grand Designs Live show, which was ironically held at the National Exhibition Centre in Solihull.
The new restrictions mean that anyone wanting to create a self-commissioned home in the borough could well struggle to join the register – an essential demand tool for the council and one that is set out in legislation.
Restrictions are allowed under the legislation, which can entail a local connection test, a financial viability test and the right to charge people, both to join and remain on the registers.
For anyone keen on building locally, Solihull Council now requires people to demonstrate a local connection to qualify for joining Part 1 – the element they must consider when considering their wider housing duties. Those without this link will join Part 2, which has no impact on council activity.
It also places a financial test on anyone wishing to join, which NaCSBA considers the worst of the tests imposed by the council. This states:
There will also be an assessment of financial resources. The Council will require relevant evidence of sufficient resources as follows:
NaCSBA reports that the tests are impossible to pass.
In addition, the council’s guidance references the Council of Mortgage Lenders – an organisation that ceased to exist five years ago.
Kevin McCloud designer and presenter of Grand Designs stated: “At a time when we need a greater focus on sustainability and more affordable homes, it is beyond belief that any Council is making it impossible for such homes to be delivered.”
Andrew Baddeley-Chappell CEO of the National Custom & Self Build Association stated: “I have no doubt that these changes being introduced by the Council are contrary to the letter and spirit of laws aimed at helping people to build or commission their own home, known as the Right to Build. The Council needs to reverse these changes and understand how it got into such a mess in the first place.”
The Self-Build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015 as amended by the Housing & Planning Act 2016 is primary legislation. It states: “This is intended to make it much easier for people to find land to build or commission their own home, diversifying housing supply and revitalising smaller builders who have not experienced the same level of recovery as the large housebuilders since the financial crisis.”
The legislation requires all local authorities in England to establish a Register of all those who wish to self-build and to then ensure that sufficient plots come forward to meet the demand.
The legislation allows for three restrictions to be imposed on joining the Registers, but there are tests that need to be met for this to happen. As was intended, very few Councils (7% at 30 October 2021) impose all of these tests. Approaching 6 years after the legislation was introduced, Solihull is choosing to introduce all 3 restrictions. Furthermore, the way it is imposing some of these restrictions makes it impossible for anyone to meet the tests and so benefit from the legislation.
The reason for introducing these restrictions is clear. The Council is seeking an easy way of getting out of the duty that the legislation places on it. As at 30 October 2021 (the last date for which data is available), the Council had a shortfall in delivery of 247 plots, and this number was continuing to increase.
NaCSBA is highly critical of the policy, which it links to other ill-conceived examples of discredited polices, such as Epping Forest District Council.
The action by the Council is directly contrary to the message from central Government that continues to support the growth of the sector. Just this year the Government responded positively to the independent review on growing the sector (The Bacon Review) and launched Help to Build enabling access to the market to those with a 5% deposit. As stated in commissioning the review: “We know that self and custom builders deliver high quality, well designed homes that are energy efficient, accessible affordable and welcomed by their communities.”
Image: On stage at Grand Designs debating the Right to Build – (L-R) NaCSBA CEO Andrew Baddeley-Chappell, Richard Bacon MP, Kevin McCloud, Kunle Barker, TV personality and Mario Wolf of Custom Build Homes.
Harpenden in Hertfordshire could benefit from a new site for custom and self builders for up to 30 homes, on a 6.7hectare site at Cross Lane Fields. The project is the vision of Lansdown, a NaCSBA member specialising in strategic land promotion and development.
In conjunction with Imagine Places, Lansdown is holding a public engagement event on the 10 September, to give neighbours, would be builders and other stakeholders a say in shaping the development from a design perspective. This will be followed by a post-event online debrief for interested parties.
Those looking to build in the area are also encouraged to complete the Cross Lane Fields survey, to help Lansdown gauge local appetite for the model.
Cross Lane Fields is a piece of visually contained Green Belt land that Lansdown will seek outline planning permission for to create a pioneering development of self and custom build homes. These will be exemplars in energy standards, design and sustainability, bringing much needed homes to the area.
Currently the model involves self builders designing their homes, in line with design codes that create a set of ‘rules’ for the site, to support a cohesive scheme. The planned homes will include a mix of sizes, with homes either self built or self-commissioned to Passivhaus Standards. It is hoped that 40% will be affordable homes with a discount of 30% on the land at point of purchase.
In addition, parts of scheme will be rewilded, with a new orchard and pond to create habitats and mitigate damage to wildlife and from flooding.
Senior Planner at Lansdown Ethan Davies said, “The Cross Lane Fields scheme will provide people with a unique opportunity to build exceptionally fine, energy efficient homes surrounded by beautiful and biodiverse open spaces within a community of like-minded self-builders”.
Interested in building at Cross Lane Fields? Fill out the survey
Image credit: ImaginePlaces
In a reflection of the buoyant market for custom and self build, Netherlands-based Steenvlinder has announced a major investment in the UK with three new sites. If they all go ahead, this could bring 150 plot opportunities to the market, centred around Ashford, Birmingham and Basildon.
NaCSBA member Steenvlinder is working with a range of partners to bring on the sites, including Czero and Unboxed Homes, and is in the process of recruiting for more staff for its UK operations.
Steenvlinder was set up by Hans Sparreboom and Marnix Norder in 2015 to create owner-commissioned custom build homes in the Netherlands, and it has delivered 2,000 homes since then, with more in the pipeline.
Netherlands has been a pioneer for initiatives to scale up the provision of self and custom build homes, which Richard Bacon MP saying in his review that, “Despite its size, the Netherlands has led the way in innovation in the housing sector, with the new town of Almere being an international model of what can be achieved at scale.”
Currently, Steenvlinder’s site at Pound Lane in Basildon – a collaboration with several architects – has 12 plots, available for purchase. The sites in Ashford is going through planning, with 105 plots potentially coming to the market, with the Birmingham site having scope for 30-50 plots – although the location has not yet been announced.
Owner commissioned homes are firmly on the government’s agenda, with the publication earlier this year of the Custom and Self Build Action Plan and Richard Bacon’s independent review to develop a plan for scaling up the sector, making it the perfect time for new and European companies to make the most of the positive environment.
Hans Sparreboom, Steenvlinder CEO, said: “With the English government supportive of the CSB methodology we need to spend less time asking how to build more houses and more about making ‘how to make houses’ more popular. We’re excited about helping the UK build back better with homes designed and built to last.”
The Rt Hon Christopher Pincher MP, Minister of State for the Department for Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), said: “It is encouraging to see further investment in the customer and self-build market in the UK. It has the potential to deliver thousands more homes each year as we bring forward the recommendations in the Bacon Review to scale-up the sector and introduce the Help to Build scheme which will make home building a realistic and affordable option to many more people.”
NaCSBA continues to work and support government as it considers the recommendations put forwards in the review.
A new survey by the National Self Build and Renovation Centre (NSBRC) reflects a series of data about people’s real, or planned, projects, including averages, such as age, household income and budget. This helps give a realistic picture of people building or renovating a home right now, showing what motivates them and what barriers they face. NaCSBA’s most recent surveys have asked questions of the general public, reflecting people’s aspirations rather than the realities of those actually involved in a build.
Conducted in partnership with NaCSBA in June 2021, this new survey asked questions of NSBRC customers, and of the 681 people that responded, 73% were building a brand new home.
The survey fed into Richard Bacon’s Review of Custom and Self Build, a detailed report commissioned by Boris Johsno examining the opportunities and barriers to the sector scaling up. The review, which also puts six recommendations for government to consider is due to be published shortly.
Anyone considering a self-build scheme as part of a group may want to consider cohousing, and, if so, a new practical guide from UK Cohousing Network offers practical insight to help you achieve your goal. Cohousing is a model in which you have your own private home while sharing common facilities as an intentional community of likeminded individuals.
Cohousing is a distinct approach to designing healthy neighbourhoods, which was developed in Denmark in the 1960s. Following steady growth in the UK over the past 14 years, UK Cohousing Network has responded to demand by publishing the country’s first ever comprehensive ‘how-to’ guide.
Based upon first-hand experience of existing schemes, the guide is essential reading for both housing/planning professionals and community groups, and takes the reader through all the stages of development from conception to living together.
Cohousing communities are usually between 20-40 private dwellings with a common house, shared garden and other facilities. Residents in cohousing schemes share a common vision, and are closely involved in the design, development and long-term management/stewardship of their neighbourhoods. As such, community is at the heart of every project.
Shared spaces vary, and can include a hub for meetings and get-togethers, a shared kitchen (in addition to individual homes’ kitchens) for optional communal meals, shared gardens, laundries or even guest suites for smaller units, to remove the need for redundant bedrooms.
With over 170 pages, the guide takes groups through the entire project pipeline, drawing on experience from cohousing groups and experienced advisors. The guide explains the process of creating a group – including setting a vision, finding a site, planning, building and living in the finished project. It also explains design elements and issues around finance.
Cohousing has well-recognised benefits, and a major element in that it combats isolation and loneliness, making it a popular choice for older people, as well as a route for families and younger people. This also makes it a popular route for groups of people with shared value sets or experiences, such as the LGBTQ community.
The guide is part of the membership package for UK Cohousing Network and is available to the Community Led Homes hub network. The UK Cohousing Network’s website has lots of free information about the route, and the network is part of the Community Led Homes website, which explains the full range of approaches to community led housing, and the differences.
But groups seriously embarking on a cohousing project will find the guide, and the membership that supports it, a valuable resource.
Membership of the UK Cohousing Network costs between £60 annually for individuals looking for groups, £90 a year for established groups, with prices for NGOs and commercial memberships set at £200/£300 per year.
Boris Johnson’s much discussed planning reforms are set to sweep away the system that has shaped our communities since 1947, but the proposals continue to get push back from Tory MPs, as well as other from other parties.
The planning system has been widely, if not always fairly, blamed for the UK’s failure in housing delivery, and the reforms have been in discussion since the Fixing our Broken Housing Market paper in 2017.
Simply put the proposals, as set out in the Planning for the Future White Paper (2020) set out a better future for a more streamlined planning service, to be encapsulated in the Planning Bill.
The government’s idea revolutionises how we do planning, adopting a model that is more akin to the zoned systems seen in many other countries, with three distinct areas defined for development. Effectively this creates a traffic light system, with all land in England falling into either:
This simplified version will see land in growth areas given automatic planning permission, with some land in renewal areas being granted permission in principle.
There has been serious criticism of the plans as many feel that it removes the ability of local people and councils to block or influence new development sufficiently. However, government counters this by saying there will be consultation involved in the setting of the zones, giving local communities say.
But a recent Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG) Select Committee report remained sceptical in regards to whether the proposals will have the desired results, stating in its summary that, “we are unpersuaded that the Government’s zoning-based approach will produce a quicker, cheaper, and democratic planning system”.
Criticism from within the party has continued, with the loss of a recent by-election in Chesham and Amersham being linked to local people’s concerns around planning matters, further adding fuel to the debate.
As well as the zonal system of areas, the reforms also put forward a desire to digitise the entire system, which can only be good for everyone involved.
A new National Model Design Code will also pave the way for more local Design Codes, which would set out a vision for what is acceptable locally in terms of beauty and quality. The intention of this is to raise the bar for development, especially for housing, including custom and self build homes.
Planning for the Future also set out a vision for changes in how developer contributions will be gathered – the infrastructure levy, to remove Section 106 contributions. The original idea was a national service, but this has already been revised so that it remains in the power of local authorities to control, and spend. Such contributions help fund wider issues, and, in the eyes of the local authority, ensure that new development contributes to wider issues, such as infrastructure or greening up.
NaCSBA is generally supportive of the proposed planning reforms, as they have the potential to give self and custom builders far more certainty with regards to planning.
However, many proposals to amend the planning system have been put forward over the years that have been watered down. This has traditionally given rise to the accusation of constantly tinkering with, rather than fixing, the system, resulting in the cumbersome system building most engage with. So it remains to be seen how much of the original reforms proposed will make it through the process.
