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Builders Merchants Federation Follow us


1180 Elliott Court, Coventry Business Park, Herald Avenue Coventry CV5 6UB Tel: 02476 854980 info@bmf.org.uk www.bmf.org.uk


Kyran Bracken MBE to host


BMF Members’ Conference Former England rugby


international Kyran Bracken MBE will host the Business Conference at the 2020 BMF Members Conference & Awards which takes place on 16 and 17 September at De Vere Beaumont Estate, Old Windsor.


Kyran Bracken played rugby for England for ten years, the highlight being his contribution to their World Cup win in 2003. Until the advent of the professional game, he balanced playing for Bristol with a successful career in law. He went on to play 170 times for Saracens, tour with the Lions and appear on numerous occasions with the Barbarians. After retiring, he swapped his rugby shirt for ice skates to win ITV’s Dancing On Ice. His passion for skating continues, but he has also stayed close to rugby as a coach at Leicester. He is equally engaging on the conference platform outlining his formula for success, using practical examples from an England team who progressed from nearly men to World Champions.


BMF CEO, John Newcomb said: “As a champion in two different disciplines, Kyran embodies our Conference theme of Sustaining Excellence. We are delighted that he will be hosting our main event for BMF members this year.” The two-day BMF Members’


Diary dates and BMF news In light of the


continuous changes to events due to COVID-19 precautions, please check the BMF website at www. bmf.org.uk for all the latest news and events updates in this ever- changing environment.


Latest housing 


As the dust settles after the General Election, narrowing the gap between housing demand and supply requires unrelenting political determination to simplify and speed up planning approvals to increase housing completions. Politicians tried to outbid one another with pledges on how many new homes they would build if elected. The BMF has seen the latest Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government figures on the net additional dwellings for year 2018-2019 in England. Nearly a quarter of a million new homes - 241,130 - were added to total housing supply, up 9% on the previous year. This number is broken down as: • 213,660 newly-built homes • 29,260 homes gained from changing use from non-residential to residential


• 5,220 from conversions between houses and flats • 940 from other sources like caravans, house-boats, etc. with 7,940 demolitions deducted to give 241,130 net additional dwellings. But the BMF have spotted slippage in the desire to build more homes. During the election campaign, Boris Johnson’s Conservatives promised to build a million homes over the next 5 years - equating to 200,000 homes per year. But this is fewer than the target of 300,000 per year by the mid-2020s set by Theresa May’s Conservatives. And as the net additional figures above show, this pledge is 40,000 fewer than were completed in 2018-2019 in England. This cannot be right.


event sees the business Conference and black-tie Awards Dinner taking place on 17 September at the De Vere Beaumont Estate, Old Windsor, Berkshire. The Conference’s social programme, which takes place on 16 September, features the BMF’s annual Golf Tournament at the nearby Windlesham Golf Course, and the Great BMF Boat Race, which involves coaching and a fun regatta at Dorney Lake Boat Club. The BMF thanks headline sponsor, Marshalls Stonemarket, and Monument Tools and First Event for sponsoring our social activities.


For more information please visit www.bmf.org.uk/events or contact june.upton@bmf.org.uk.


The BMF welcome the


following new members: Merchant


Service Supplier


BMF comment:  


Reacting to new analysis from the Local Government Association that more than a million homes granted planning permission in the past decade have not yet been built, John Newcomb, Chief Executive, BMF, said: “The Local Government Association’s findings are part of a long- running debate over whether (or not) housebuilders and property developers are land-banking on a significant scale”.


“It is understandable why the LGA wants the Government to grant their members the power to take action on unused planning permission. Their main proposal is to make it easier to use compulsory purchase powers on land where much-needed homes remain unbuilt”.


I am reminded of what the-then Labour Leader, Ed Miliband MP, told his Party Conference in 2013. The BMF were in the Brighton Conference Centre to hear him unveil a new “Use It or Lose It” policy aimed at builders who do


April 2020 www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net


not start work onsite straightway. Labour wanted to persuade property speculators to release land for building before ministers stepped in to force their hand”. Newcomb noted that two separate independent enquiries - Kate Barker’s Review of Land Use Planning (in 2006) and Sir Oliver Letwin’s Review of Build-Out (in 2018) - had both found no real evidence of land-banking. And in his October 2018 Budget, former Chancellor, Philip Hammond MP, said speculative land-banking was not part of the business model for major housebuilders.


Newcomb concluded: “The LGA is right to say no-one can live in a planning permission, or a half-built house where work on a site has begun but not been completed. That is why in our advocacy, the BMF wants to see unrelenting determination by government ”.


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