An industry coalition has secured a major commitment from the government to review its small sites policy, which could deliver more than 110,000 new homes on brownfield land.
The coalition of 28 organisations, which included Pocket Living, Barratt Homes, Optivo and The National Housing Federation, made representations to the secretary of state Michael Gove and campaigned alongside Andrew Lewer MP to get the government to review its planning policy on small sites as part of the next stages of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill.
According to analysis of 10 urban settlements in England carried out by Pocket Living, an additional 110,000 new homes could be built on small brownfield sites in those areas alone. The figure nationally could be significantly higher.
Andrew Lewer, member of Parliament for Northampton South, said: “I am pleased to recommend making it easier for brownfield and small sites to come forward in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill and glad to hear from the housing minister that she intends to look into this further. Helping innovative businesses like Pocket Living to get on with their work needs to be a priority for the department as the country faces unprecedented housing pressures.”
Marc Vlessing, chief executive officer at Pocket Living, said: “We are delighted that the government has heeded our calls for an urgent review around its policy for small sites following our campaign and our analysis around the potential for such sites to deliver thousands of new homes. The fact that hundreds of thousands of our citizens aged 25 to 45 are effectively being forced to abandon any hope of ever owning a home due to record high housing costs is nothing short of a tragedy and a national disgrace. Yet, that is precisely what is happening.
“At long last it seems as though the government is now being bold enough to consider empowering SME housing developers to deliver, through a presumption in favour of development on small brownfield sites, to deliver a substantial number of homes coming forward in sustainable urban locations. Contrast this to the current situation whereby councils across England’s 10 largest urban settlements are only identifying a fraction of brownfield sites, and the benefits of doing so are absolutely clear.”
Paul Hackett, CEO of Optivo, added: “A presumption in favour of development of small sites for affordable housing could unlock thousands of sites to build hundreds of thousands affordable homes across the country in the years ahead. Unlocking small urban sites would enable housing associations and SMEs to develop affordable homes in established urban locations making better use of under-developed urban land.”
Nick Whitten, JLL head of EMEA and UK living research, said: “Solutions to the housing crisis lie in increasing supply and improving affordability through finding innovative ways to enable new opportunities, particularly for SME housebuilders. JLL wholeheartedly supports the proposed small sites planning policy as it aligns perfectly with this goal.”
Andrew Boyd, partner and head of residential at Allsop, added: “There is a lot to be said for this policy. The SME sector has contracted so much and will do again next year with the financial backdrop. With house builders focussed on larger sites it is key that support is given to the smaller end of the market.”
Lewer’s proposed amendment to government policy would encourage local authorities to ‘support opportunities to bring forward sites and apply a presumption in favour of development where the site is below 0.25 hectares in area, and contains over 60% affordable housing, as defined in annex two of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)’.
Following the government’s commitment to review its policy around small sites it is envisaged that the next stage will be a consultation on the change linked to a wider review of the policies contained within the NPPF.
