Government support small builders small builders support
S
mall builders will benefit from a £100 million cash boost to recognise and support their important role in keeping
the country building. The Housing Growth Partnership will act
as an initiative that will invest alongside smaller builders in new developments, provid- ing money for support and help get workers onto sites and increasing housing supply. The Partnership will also establish a network
of builders, including experienced developers, who will act as mentors and advisers to those looking to expand and grow their businesses. In the last 25 years, the number of firms
building between one and 100 units a year has fallen from over 12,000 to fewer than 3,000. The latest housebuilding figures show starts
have more than doubled since 2009 – with both starts and completions rising in the past year and the number of homes granted plan- ning permission are at the highest annual total for eight years. The Housing Growth Partnership will help
small builders to play their part in the growth in home building numbers. The government matched a £50 million investment from Lloyds Banking Group to cre- ate the £100 million Housing Growth Partnership. It will be used to help smaller builders to invest in new projects and
develop their businesses. The partnership expects to make around 50 investments, with the aim to provide an additional 2,000 homes. Housing Minister Brandon
Brandon Lewis
Lewis said: “The 2008 eco- nomic crash devastated our army of small builders, with delivery falling from 44,000 homes to just 18,000. Seven years on, companies are get- ting back on their feet but we’re determined to give them all the help they need. “Access to finance is one of the biggest challenges they face – so that’s why today I’m launching this £100 million commitment which will help our smaller builders fund new proj- ects, expand their businesses, create more jobs and build more homes. “With housing starts at a seven-year high
and climbing, and homes granted planning permission at 261,000 – the highest since 2007, this work will ensure we maintain this momentum and keep the country building. Group Director and Chief Executive, Commercial Banking, Lloyds Banking Group, Andrew Bester said: “The challenge of housing supply and affordability is one of the biggest issues facing Britain today, so we at Lloyds Banking Group welcome the government’s announcement of support for the Housing
Growth Partnership, which will double the capability to sup- port SME house builders. It will provide SME house builders with much needed equity to support residential develop- ment projects, to stimulate growth in their businesses and facilitate access to conven-
tional property development finance. “We believe building both a greater
quantity and mix of homes will help Britain prosper and this partnership will help address the issue of housing supply in the UK.” Chief Executive of Federation of Master Builders, Brian Berry said: “There has been a sharp decline in the numbers and output of SME house builders over the past eight years. One of the biggest obstacles these firms have faced is a severe difficulty in accessing finance. Without adequate access to finance they cannot bring forward the number of new homes they would otherwise. “The new partnership will directly help to
address this issue and the additional £50 mil- lion greatly increases the scale of what can be achieved. We commend Lloyds Banking Group and the government on their trailblaz- ing approach and we hope this marks a real turning point in the fight to provide adequate finance to the SME house building sector.”
planning
Government planning reforms to boost housebuilding and productivity
The government has announced plans to reform the planning system in an attempt to accelerate the construction of new homes around the country. The detailed plans, which are part of a 90
page document titled ‘Fixing the foundations: Creating a more productive nation’, is aimed at improving UK productivity towards housebuilding, and includes automatic plan- ning permission on ‘suitable’ brownfield sites in the new government Housing Zones. When describing ‘Planning freedoms and
more houses to buy’ the Treasury document states that: “The UK has been incapable of building enough homes to keep up with growing demand. This they believe harms pro- ductivity and restricts labour market flexibility,
and frustrates the ambitions of thousands of people who would like to own and even build their own home.” Based on this belief the document describes
five actions that the government will take. These include: •The introduction of a new zonal system, which will effectively give automatic permission on suitable brownfield sites
•Taking tougher action to ensure that local authorities are using their powers to get local plans in place and make homes available for local people, intervening to arrange for local plans to be written where necessary
•Bringing forward proposals for stronger, fairer compulsory purchase powers, and
devolution of major new planning powers to the Mayors of London and Manchester
•Extending the Right to Buy to housing association tenants, and deliver 200,000 Starter Homes for first-time buyers
•Restricting tax relief to ensure all individual landlords get the same level of tax relief for their finance costs Speaking about the need for the proposed planning reforms Secretary of State for Business, Sajid Javid said: “The UK has long been incapable of building enough homes to keep up with growing demand. This does not just frustrate the ambitions of hard working people who want to own their own home, it also harms productivity and restricts flexibility in the labour market.”
selfbuilder & homemaker
www.sbhonline.co.uk
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