NEW HOMES: WHAT WILL THE BONUS DELIVER
Jackie Sadek, Chair, UKregneration
to comment on that you had to do so by Christmas Eve. Predictably there has been debate about each of the elements in the proposition: Is this really what is stopping house building? Are the financial disincentives from growth in a local area that significant? How will we know where to build homes without the targets?
The political rhetoric is fairly predictable:
“Incentives will be a powerful driver . Communities could
see reductions in council tax, or a redeveloped town centre or a new community centre in return for accepting new homes.” Grant Shapps Ministerial Foreword Consultation Document
When Harold MacMillan was given the job of meeting the target to build 300,000 houses a year he was told by Churchill that it would “make or mar his political career”. He met the target.
Housing has always been a hot political topic and the Coalition Government has made this a key priority based on the policy in the Conservative Manifesto
“Communities should benefit when they choose to develop sustainably, so we will match pound-for-pound the council tax receipts that local authorities receive from new homes to encourage sensitive local development.”
Grant Shapps announced the new system in August 2010 and the consultation paper was issued on 12 November. In essence the proposition is simple. House building doesn’t happen because local authorities get in the way. This is not just a kneejerk NIMBY response but based on a rational assessment that there are adverse consequences of a growth in population for the financing and delivery of local services. Therefore government should give local authorities a financial incentive which clearly makes it worthwhile for them to support local building.
The consultation document sets out in much more detail how this will work including what counts as “new” (bringing empty homes back into use for example) and how and when the payments will be made. If you wanted |62| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE
“The Government is right to want a strong incentive system for councils and communities ready to see new homes built. But this isn’t it.” John Healey at the Labour Party Conference As UK Regeneration we come to this debate with a sceptical eye, discounting that political rhetoric on all sides and focusing on the practicality. What should we all do now?
Don’t expect a miracle The consultation paper makes assumptions of around 140,000 homes a year being built in the near future, although this appears to be mainly for the purposes of calculation rather than any form of target. It seems Mr Shapps is not expecting to emulate MacMillan. Within that total the Bonus is assessed as generating roughly 14,ooo additional homes a year beyond what will happen anyway.
Clearly this is not huge but the priority is much more about making sure that homes get built in places where there is demand. Housing and Planning Delivery Grant was a smaller, more complex and less certain addition to local councils’ budgets often dealing more with process than outcomes. The Bonus is simple and predictable and reflects outcomes rather than processes. The affordable housing element, the empty homes calculation and the scaling according to the Council Band are designed to favour homes of the right scale and the right type.
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