4 INDUSTRY NEWS


HOUSEBUILDER & DEVELOPER


Publisher Lesley Mayo


James Parker


FROM THE EDITOR


Phillip Hammond’s Budget contained a lot of Christmas cheer for the sector, no question. It’s hard to be cynical about a £44bn investment plan, especially in the context of current financial worries around Brexit.


As always, there are unanswered questions, including how much is new, how the loans will be accessed, and an underlying sense that the size of the fund is a sign that the new target to build 300,000 homes a year is out of reach. And, last but not least, is the Government genuinely committed to intervene on planning so that sites can be unlocked quickly?


Hammond’s good humour, as he produced a Christmas stocking full of money, masked his concern on the new economic outlook, with growth prospects having been revised down by the OBR for the next five years. There’s a double-whammy of continuing productivity problems across the economy, compounded by Brexit uncertainty for business. How first- time buyers without rich parents are going to get the money together to find a deposit – with wages far from keeping pace – is anyone’s guess.


Cutting stamp duty on the first £300,000 of house purchases is seen as likely to fall flat, as it will have the effect of pushing up house prices. This is a fairly demoralising prediction, because it suggests that other such levers to help buyers may only result in price rises – defeating the aim. We still need more dynamic thinking to ‘shove’ supply in the right direction, as one commentator in our Budget news report puts it.


ON THE COVER


Industry News: The sector reacts to Hammond’s £44bn handout to solve the housing crisis


12.17


HOUSEBUILDER & DEVELOPER


New Developments: The tallest CLT tower yet built arrives in Dalston Lane, Hackney


Comment: The FMB’s Brian Berry on the CITB’s key role in tackling skills shortages


The Homes and Communities Agency is being beefed up as Homes England, and will compulsory-purchase land with planning permission if needs be, which will certainly be a dynamic intervention if it works out in practice. Most industry voices however are still saying that tackling planning problems at their root is what’s needed.


Many agencies and individuals need to accept that the green belt is not automatically ‘green and pleasant’ – it’s often a ring of nondescript land which is the most obvious place to build on. Voters need to be calmly persuaded to accept this if we are to have any chance of hitting targets.


Oliver Letwin’s review of planning is just that, and if Government needs to fact-find on this it just shows the size of the gulf between the DCLG and our under-resourced local planning departments.


FOUNDING A COMMUNITY


Case Study: Anthology London creates a diverse community in Deptford, south east London, inspired by the area’s industrial heritage


Case Study: Anthology London creates a diverse community in Deptford, south east London, inspired by the area’s industrial heritage


Deptford Foundry © Anthology go to page 21


Why avoid the real measure that would instantly catalyse housebuilding, namely lifting the cap on council borrowing? Why not just let councils have a freer hand while interest rates are low? Reclassifying housing associations as private sector bodies will give them some more freedom to borrow, but like so much else in this Budget, it could go much further.


James Parker


Managing Editor James Parker


Assistant Editor Jack Wooler


Editorial Assistant Roseanne Field


Senior Sales Executives Sheehan Edmonds Nathan Hunt


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