While some of the issues with the UK’s crises-laden housing system are symptomatic of a difficult market, there needs to be a paradigm shift in the way housebuilding is delivered, writes Dr Chris Lyons
As the prospect of a general election at some point in 2024 begins to loom large, the housing crisis is turning out to be one of the key battlegrounds for the major parties on the campaign trail.
Housebuilding – or the lack thereof – has been one of the most consistent threads in political discourse for the last 50 years or so, but despite various pledges, targets and mandates from parties of all colours, we as a nation are still a long way behind where we need to be when it comes to housing supply.
The Housebuilding Crisis report from the Centre for Cities found that the endemic lack of housebuilding since the post-war push in the 1950s has resulted in a deficit of 4.3m homes in comparison to other European countries.
It’s easy to look at these stats and wonder what can be done to tackle a problem that now has deep rooted causes, but the reality is that there needs to be a concerted effort to look at alternative ways to increase housing supply.
The problems are multi-faceted with cash flow affecting many businesses and making purchasing of sites more difficult, which then knocks onto delays in the delivery of sites. The incredibly slow pace of the planning system in many authorities then leads to decision times on applications being measured in months, rather than weeks, which again affects cash flow and delivery.
Another issue is that most of the ‘obvious’ sites for housing went years ago, so most new developments involve some type of compromise or impact which is difficult for locals to accept.
Incremental increases to the edge of settlements often cannot deliver the new facilities that are much needed, as they aren’t large enough to fund new facilities. The pressure on the health and educations system is clear for all to see, but while housebuilding can contribute towards meeting some of these needs, the government needs to clearly invest more.
However, this is where larger, more strategic sites such as sustainable urban extensions (SUEs) and new garden villages can really come into their own. As well as delivering the kind of volume housebuilding this country needs to alleviate the current housing crisis, they also provide real benefits in terms of sustainability, with a greater ability to deliver on things like transport planning and active travel.
They can also deliver new education, community and health facilities – all of which are badly needed and will reduce the impact and pressure on existing communities.
However, there are significant challenges to overcome for this approach to be successful in the long term. Land supply for these types of sites is incredibly restricted, while the economic situation is improving following a turbulent few years, there is understandable concern from some parts of the housebuilding sector to make big investments while the market and planning system remain so challenging.
Whether that manifests itself as not tendering for available land given the increase in costs or scrutinising deals already made, this creates a knock-on effect for the entire process, which are then compounded by the problems with the planning system.
The planning system is both a victim of understaffing and ongoing capacity issues within local authorities, and is also set up to fail by constantly changing guidelines, which are not clear what they mean when they are published, and are produced with little warning; meaning that many sites far into the process are suddenly stopped.
The recent changes to the National Planning Policy Framework are a case in point, having stopped many sites that were well progressed with the change to only needing a four-year land supply.
There also appears to be a return to ‘development control’ in some authorities, where planning officers are passing on comments, rather than ‘development management’, where the planning officer proactively reviews comments and seeks solutions, if possible.
This is undoubtedly due to a loss of experience in many authorities, along with increasing workloads both from funding challenges and also increasing complexity from new technical issues. The list of ‘new’ issues now becoming standard in the planning system is increasing each year with nitrates, phosphates, water neutrality, biodiversity net gain, and now stricter interpretations on flooding and the sequential test.
However, the art of town planning and working together to find solutions needs to be rediscovered in some areas so we can deliver the desperately needed new housing for current and future generations.
Many of these issues need cooperation to try to find a solution and some authorities are really good at this, but others just leave it to the developer to try to resolve with little input.
Ring fencing money for planning departments is critical to ensure there is the investment and resourcing they need along with the ongoing technical training required.
The tricky part is seeking to ensure the planning system becomes more dynamic and cooperative, so the more progressive authorities are rewarded for a more proactive approach. This doesn’t need to be an agreement, but ensuring a dialogue takes place on schemes and solutions found if they exist. The Planning Delivery Grant may not have been perfect but it did change the approach in many authorities.
The best way to navigate these challenges is to work with those consultants and experts that can help you through the process, using their knowledge of the vagaries and challenges of the system often having worked on both the local authority and the housebuilder side of the equation.
That ability and knowledge to help make decisions and tackle moveable guidelines is critical to the success of major developments – the like of which will be essential in tackling the housing backlog, and bring sorely needed development forward.
Main image: Dr Chris Lyons is the residential lead at SLR Consulting
Read next: Tackling the barriers in the housing market
Are you a social housing professional? Sign up for a FREE MEMBERSHIP to upload news stories, post job vacancies, and connect with colleagues on our secure social feed.
