20 COMMENT BUDGET CONCERNS
Brian Berry, CEO of the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), gives his review of a disappointing spring Budget
Brian Berry T
he fi rst few months of have been a relatively uiet period politically, far from the ups and downs of last year, and this reserved approach seemingly fi ltered into the pring udget delivered in mid arch. he udget did support the house building industry in part, but failed to tackle the big issues.
eyond the udget, there has been little progress on easing the housing crisis, especially for those of us on the side of the housing fence. e had a strong engagement in anuary with the former ousing inister, ucy raer, but unfortunately a ebruary reshuffl e meant she was whisked away to pastures new. he larger house builders are facing plenty of battles with ichael ove, the energetic ecretary of tate at the epartment for evellingp, ousing and ommunities, with the recent news some will be banned from developing if they dont sign up to the new uilding afety ontract. I ust hope this doesnt boil over into an overall anti development mood from the overnment. e simply must get on with building more homes.
A TAME BUDGET
It was one of the tamer udgets of the last few years and certainly a country mile away from the one delivered by wasi warteng in eptember of last year. It continued the current hancellors push to steady the ship, but disappointingly, it didnt tackle the big issues the country is facing. o mention of housing, no mention of energy effi ciency, although labour shortages were tackled in detail, through changes to the hortage ccupation ist, thereby easing migration rules for key trades. he fought for, and has welcomed, this element. e all know that overnment coffers are not bottomless, but housing and retrofi tting homes represent a huge ob and growth opportunity. eyond this, it would get the next generation on the housing ladder and where retrofi t is concerned, it would lower energy bills. As we know, small local builders are delivering a mere of new housing, and ngland could end up delivering the lowest number of homes since the econd orld
ar according to recent research from the ome uilders ederation. onseuently, housing should have been front and centre of the pring udget. his may well turn into an existential crisis for the incumbent overnment, with fewer homeowners, the traditional onservative voter base may ebb away. As things stand the arty that sorts out the housing crisis would be well on its way to election victory.
hile there were some minor changes for housing buried in the detail, concerning improving housing delivery from those affected by nutrient neutrality issues through a new call for evidence from local authorities and a commitment to fund local mitigation schemes, there is very little that will comfort small local house builders. If the overnment is to deliver its own aims of building more beautiful, diverse, and locally focussed housing, then they must back the nations local housebuilders and remove the barriers like planning, skills shortages and land that stand in their way.
BUILDING SAFETY LEVY
ince my last article there have been a number of consultations, including proposed changes to the ational olicy lanning ramework, which sets out planning rules, and the introduction of the uilding afety evy. he uilding afety evy plans to mitigate cladding issues, but this has been extended to all sies of housebuilders and this seems misudged. I commend the evy for protecting consumers against the steep costs of cladding remediation, but we dont feel the evy is appropriate for smaller builders. mall, local housebuilders have no connection to high rise buildings or cladding issues and could end up paying for mistakes that are not of their doing. hey are an industry delivering less and less housing, but are asked to pay more, either directly or through increased administration from regulation. his evy penalises small housebuilders for building homes, and does little to turn around housebuilders. he overnment needs to consider the impact on small, local fi rms, as the most vulnerable part of the sector, and alter their plans.
THE BUDGET DID SUPPORT THE HOUSE BUILDING INDUSTRY IN PART, BUT FAILED TO TACKLE THE BIG ISSUES
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