8 INDUSTRY NEWS
possible for tenants.” He concluded: “Now, we are looking forward to working with tenants, with housing associations and with the government to make this pilot a resounding success. This scheme must empower social housing tenants and meet our own ambitions to deliver the homes that the country needs.”
The Government has said it will assess the impact of the pilot before deciding on the next steps for this policy.
Fall in net migration ‘sounds alarm bells’ for construction
Right to Buy Pilot launched in the Midlands
Thousands of social housing association tenants are being given the opportunity to buy their home, with the launch of the Midlands Voluntary Right to Buy Pilot. Communities Secretary James Brokenshire said that the Government “is committed to providing opportunities for people to get a foot on the property ladder and to have a place they can call their own.” He believes the pilot is “first step” in helping housing association tenants achieve home ownership.
Government is providing £200m for the voluntary Right to Buy pilot, with places allocated via a ballot to ensure fairness for applicants. The news follows measures announced in the recent social housing Green Paper, which is hoped to make it easier for residents to progress into home ownership. In a joint effort being undertaken with the National Housing Federation, the Government said that the money from the discounted sales will be used to fund replacement homes.
Chief executive of the National Housing Federation, David Orr explained the partnership: “Over the past three years, we have worked closely with the government on its proposal to extend the Right to Buy to housing association tenants. Of course, this pilot is not the finished product. We want to take the time to get this major endeavour right.
“It will be a success for everyone involved only if every home that is sold is replaced with a new affordable home, and if the application process is as smooth as
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400 new homes approved by London Mayor after council rejection
A major development in Brentford, set to deliver hundreds of new homes, has been given the green light by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, after being refused by Hounslow Council earlier this year. Plans were approved for 441 new homes on the site of a former Citroen car dealer- ship, of which 218 will be genuinely affordable, including both shared owner- ship for first-time buyers and homes based on social rent levels. The development was refused by Hounslow Council in February this year. After considering the scheme, the Mayor decided to ‘call in’ the scheme and make a final decision himself. The 50 per cent level of affordable housing was secured following the inter- vention, after the borough rejected the application at a stage when it included 40 per cent affordable housing. Included in the approved scheme is a
review mechanism, which states that if a building is not well underway within two years of the permission being granted, the developer could be compelled to provide further affordable homes. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, gave comment: “This scheme shows how we can unlock the potential of an underused site to build more genuinely affordable homes for Londoners.
“I’m clear that to fix the capital’s housing
crisis Government must play its part, but we can make a difference now by ensuring developments include more genuinely affordable housing.”
EU net migration is at its lowest level since 2012, which should “sound alarm bells” for UK construction, says the FMB. The latest Migration Statistics Quarterly Report from the ONS shows that while EU migration continues to grow the UK population, the net migration has fallen to 90,000 more EU citizens coming to the UK than leaving in the year ending March 2018.
Figures also show that the estimated
number of EU citizens coming to the UK to work has continued to decrease. The main decrease between 2016 and 2017 was in EU citizens looking for work, but much of the most recent decrease can be accounted for by a fall in the number coming to the UK for a definite job over the last year, particularly citizens of ‘EU15’ countries.
Commenting on the release, Sarah McMonagle, director of external Affairs at the FMB, said: “EU net migration is at its lowest level since 2012 and this is deeply worrying for those sectors that rely on workers from the EU. Despite the fact that we are still operating under the free movement of people, we’re already seeing far fewer EU workers coming to the UK and a greater number leaving our shores. This could be due to financial reasons since the depreciation of sterling following the EU referendum, which means that if these workers are sending money home, or saving up, their UK wages are now worth less. It could also, quite simply, be that some EU workers no longer feel welcome.” She concluded: “The drop in EU net migration is a particular problem for indus- tries like construction. At present, 9 per cent of our construction workers are from the EU and therefore we are more reliant than most on EU workers. In London, this proportion rises to nearly one-third. We can’t afford to lose any more EU workers as currently two-thirds of construction SMEs are struggling to hire bricklayers and 60 per cent are struggling to hire carpenters and joiners. If the Government wants its new homes and infrastructure projects built, it needs to do more to back up our industry’s message to all EU workers – they are welcome and they do have a bright future here in the UK.”
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