INDUSTRY NEWS 5
General election prompts housing promises
The UK’s parties set out their rival plans to address the UK housing shortage ahead of the December general election, with Labour focused on a new council house- building programme, and the Conservatives aiming to instead drive the private sector. As to Labour, its leader Jeremy Corbyn promised the “biggest affordable house- building programme since the 1960s,” including 100,000 new council houses a year by 2024. As part of the party’s manifesto launch, the funding behind its housing schemes was revealed to be over half of Labour’s ‘Social Transformation Fund’ – around £75bn over five years. Boris Johnson’s take for the
Conservatives was to announce measures to help first-time buyers and boost private housebuilding, promising at least a million homes over the next five years. The Conservatives also announced they would release a Social Housing White Paper – which was originally due in Spring 2019 – and renew the Affordable Homes Programme in the Spring Statement.
According to the Liberal Democrats, their focus was to build 300,000 homes per year, of which 100,000 would be for social rent. The party also said it would devolve full control of Right to Buy to local councils, and “urgently” publish a cross-party plan to end all forms of homelessness.”
Affordable housing provision rising
There were 57,485 affordable homes delivered (completions) in England in 2018-19 according to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), a reported increase of 22 per cent compared to the
Thousands of new homes planned in high-risk flood zones
Almost 10,000 homes are set to be constructed in high-risk flood zones across England, according to an investigation by Unearthed, Greenpeace’s journalism team. Looking across housebuilding plans in 10 “at-risk” local authorities with the Environment Agency’s flood risk map, the team identified proposals to build 9,688 homes in high risk areas. It found that across Lincolnshire, which
currently has five flood warnings in place already, 5,227 homes are planned in high- risk flood zones.
In Sheffield and Doncaster, the two areas reportedly hit hardest by recent flooding in England, hundreds of new- builds are planned in such high-risk zones. In addition, 5,123 homes were found to be planned for medium-risk areas, including a new town just over a mile from Fishlake, which has seen heavy flooding in recent months.
The Environment Agency defines high- risk flood zones as areas that have a one in 30 chance of flooding in any given year, with medium risk having between a one in 30 and one in 100 chance of flooding.
number completed the previous year. New homes for rent made up 66 per cent (including social, affordable and intermediate rent), which has been decreasing since 2014-15, when it was 78 per cent. This figure has been criticised by some, with homes for social rent on the decline – seeing an 80 per cent decrease over the past 10 years – despite waiting lists reportedly growing.
Overall, 92 per cent of the affordable homes delivered were new build, which has followed the pattern of the previous two years closely.
In total, 49 per cent of all affordable homes delivered in 2018-19 were funded through section 106 agreements, similar to the previous year at 48 per cent. The report also revealed that there were 61,056 starts on site in England in 2018-19, a 10 per cent increase on the previous year.
New NHBC Standards launched
The National House Building Council (NHBC) has launched the 2020 edition of its technical standards, which will be effective for every new home covered by an NHBC warranty, where foundations are begun on or after January 2020. NHBC’s dedicated standards team have
worked with stakeholders from across the industry to develop fresh technical content and updates to form the new standards over the last year. The main areas of focus that have seen
updates include Chapter 6.6 ‘Staircases’ which covers issues such as handrails and fixing, and Chapter 9.1 ‘A consistent approach for finishes,’ which will feature new guidance to help clarify the content and improve tolerances where appropriate. Paul Cribbens, NHBC’s standards and
technical manager, commented: “We continue to live through a challenging time within the housebuilding sector, where the need to increase housing output is tempered by the ongoing skills shortage. “However, our focus remains firmly on
improving quality for those people living in brand new homes across the UK, reducing construction defects, improving homeowner satisfaction and avoiding the need for costly and invasive remedial work, something which is in all our interests.”
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