What is the biggest single challenge for the housing market over the next 10 years?
Simply put, to build more homes. Demand has not kept pace with supply for a generation. Already, many first time-buyers rely on the help of friends or family to get a foot on the ladder. It isn’t fair that your chance of owning your home should depend so much on whether your parents or grandparents did before you. If we don’t act now, housing could become one of the greatest sources of social inequality in the next 20 years. This is why our Housing Green Paper sets out the ambitious target of building three million new homes by 2020 – two million of these by 2016. If we’re to achieve this, everyone – house builders, local councils and, importantly, local communities — needs to play their part and consider the housing needs of the next generation.
House building has dropped to its lowest levels for decades and some people are now arguing that we need to build on green belt land to solve the shortage. Is this something the Government would consider?
The figures tell a different story. The number of new homes completed is already at the highest level since the late 1980s, and new house building starts also remain high, up over 25 000 since 2000/01. We are determined to keep up this momentum, but we do not believe it is right to change the strong policy on protecting the green belt.
Our clear priority for development will remain brownfield land. Already, over 70% of new housing is built on brownfield land, this is up from 57% 10 years ago.
More homes are needed to meet growing demand, and that’s why we are releasing disused public sector land for development, and we are now considering new measures to tackle bottle-necks in supply of brownfield land.
Most experts point the finger of blame at the planning system, which is slow to grant permission for big new developments. How do you balance the need for public consultation with the desire to speed up home building?
The planning system has improved since 1997; decision-making is quicker, house building has risen and town centres have been revitalised. More than 40% of new developments are built in the heart of towns and cities, compared to less than 25% 10 years ago.
But we must go further and faster if we are to get the homes we need. More land needs to be identified in local plans, and it is vital that local communities are involved in proper consultation on where homes should go. That is why we are introducing £500m over the next three years as a Housing Planning Delivery Grant to speed up the process and reward councils and communities that are doing their bit.
Property experts believe that local councils are under-staffed and there is too great a turnover of people in planning departments. Is this something the Government can help address?
We are committed to plugging the skills gap in the planning professions. Over the last five years we have put £600m into the Planning Delivery Grant, which has been used by local authorities to invest in improvements in their planning service.
The profile of planning as a career among graduates and the planning schools in the universities is on the rise, the demand for postgraduate planning education has grown, and a number of new universities are seeking accreditation for new planning courses.
We have provided over £5m-worth of post-graduate planning bursaries and funded an array of other initiatives to attract more people to planning as a career. These steps have made a tangible impact in terms of training new planners, increasing the capacity of planning schools and providing on-the-job training opportunities for existing planning practitioners.
How do you balance the desire of councils to control housing development in their area with national policy?
Many fear that councillors, dependent on local votes, are too easily swayed by nimbys, which hinders major new developments. New planning policy makes it clear that councils must carry out a thorough assessment of what the housing need is in their local area, including the needs of families with children, and older people.
A council’s local plan must be based on meeting this need, but it is right that councils decide locally how best to do this, making sure they are meeting the needs of first-time buyers and the wider community.
Those councils who are not meeting local housing need within their local plan, or through the decisions they take, will be in conflict with national policy and can expect to be challenged.
The summer floods devastated the homes of many people. But we still seem to be pressing ahead with house building on floodplains. Why do we need to do this?
All proposals for new homes are subject to tough planning rules that require councils to block any inappropriate development in flood risk areas.
Councils must get the advice of the Environment Agency both on overall plans for where new homes are built and on individual applications for development in at-risk areas. If the Environment Agency judges that the risk is too high, we expect authorities to take their advice – and if they disregard this advice the Government can step in to take the decision itself.
How pleased are you with progress on making new homes more eco-friendly and how much more is there to be done?
What I am most pleased about is the broad consensus we have achieved on the need for greener housing. Last year we announced a target that all new homes should be zero carbon by 2016 — making us the first country in the world to do so. New eco-towns and eco-villages will lead the way.
We announced this target with the full support of not only green groups but the house building industry and many in local government. We’ve already been making progress with the tightening of Building Regulations to improve energy efficiency.
The introduction of the Code for Sustainable Homes is setting higher green standards for housing, while social housing is already leading the way with all new homes now being built to Code level three – 25% better than current Building Regulations – showing it is possible to build greener homes in sustainable communities where people want to live.
Will the new eco-towns be a success or is there a danger they will be located in regions where there is little employment, making it hard to reduce car use?
Interest among local councils in providing a home for a new eco-town within their area has been high. Typically, they will be towns of 5 000 to 10 000 homes, which are big enough to support significant employment, a strong town centre and good public services.
We have always said that it is important that eco-towns have strong links with existing communities. Although they should support some employment and retail, the eco-towns are not expected to be entirely self-sufficient, and will be closely linked to larger towns and cities — the links will include good public transport connections.
Are there any approaches to planning that you have heard about from overseas which you would like to adapt for this country?
Last year I visited Scandinavia and the Netherlands, along with the Home Builders Federation and the WWF, to see how these countries are making homes greener. I challenged UK companies to beat designs and standards from the region within 10 years.
By setting rigorous and progressive targets, we’ve made it clear what we are expecting from the house building industry.
Home Information Packs have come in for a lot of criticism. Do you think they were a mistake? If not, what benefits do they bring to the system?
Home Information Packs (HIPs) put information at the start of the home buying and selling process. HIPs contain an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). For the first time potential buyers will get an energy rating for their new home, just like the rating on a new washing machine or fridge. This will recommend changes to make homes more energy efficient and cheaper to run – the average house-holder could save £300 a year by following the recommendations. And buyers will now receive targeted information on grants or loans to help them make these changes.
What are you most proud of?
I’m proud of the fact there’s a widespread acceptance of the need for new homes. We desperately need to boost building rates to give future generations the chance of a home of their own, yet we’ve often seen strong opposition to this. By debating the issue I think we’ve made people aware of the consequences of not building and we’ve built up a strong consensus of those who back new homes.
What do you think of the role of professionals in the property industry?
There are a wide range of professionals who have an important role to play in the property industry. Trade organisations can perform key functions, such as supporting training, improving skills and promoting best practice, as well as representing their members’ interests.
