HITTING THE RIGHT TARGET
The managing director of a leading North West housebuilding firm has welcomed the new government’s approach to homebuilding.
Deputy Prime Minister and housing secretary Angela Rayner has unveiled an overhaul of planning rules to help deliver Labour’s promise of 1.5 million new homes by 2029.
She has also said local housing targets, watered down by the Conservatives in 2022, would become mandatory again.
And she has laid out plans that would make it easier to build on low-quality green belt land that will be reclassified as “grey belt”.
John Winstanley, managing director for strategic land at Chorley-based Story Homes, praised the ‘ambitious’ targets but said he believes some of the red tape in the planning process needs to change.
Speaking at the conference, he said: “I would say it is good to hear that the government are following up on their manifesto pledge.
“It is exceptionally ambitious to have 1.5 million homes by the end of parliament when you think that we have never delivered over 300,000 homes a year nationally in the past and what we need is a strong social and affordable housing sector.
“There is not a lack of demand and there is a huge desire for affordable homes and elderly care. Do we have the supply chains? Do we have
the trades? Do we have the housebuilders to do that? Probably not in all honesty.
“But if we can get to the next general election, with at least getting the planning permissions and delivering more than 300,000 per year then it’s good.”
John stressed that: “Development is sticky, regeneration is painful and can be slow.”
And he told the conference that from taking on a site to the first legal completion could take the company three to three-and-a-half years.
He said: “You are looking at potentially 15 months in planning for a site that has either an allocation or an outline permission already, so we are looking to help councils resource and tool up.”
Story Homes has 350 employees and brings around 1,000 homes to the market each year. The company positions itself at the higher end of the market, but John said there was also a strong focus on environmental and ethical issues.
He said: “We have a group who look at the next regulations coming up in terms of net zero and how we futureproof our homes and try not to introduce technologies that are going to be a bit of a millstone in the future.
“We see ourselves as ahead of the competition, as some PLCs are ignoring net zero because of the shift in targets.”
And he added: “We look at the fabric of our homes and making them energy efficient
John Winstanley
and then look at strategic land and how our schemes are planned.
“We see housing as not just a sector, but very much as a live ecosystem.”
He said Story was currently looking at where the next strategic sites in Lancashire will be, as current housing developments came to an end.
And he revealed the company was actively working on promoting plans for a “garden village” to the east of Preston, which would have more employment development on the land than homes.
He said: “It comes back to the cultural offer. It is one thing getting people to work somewhere, but getting them to live and stay there is entirely different.”
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