Developers should hand over land to self-builders

Robert Jenrick has “warmly welcomed” proposals that would see developers hand over land to self-builders. Councils could also be forced to allocate land for self-builders under the proposals commissioned by Boris Johnson. Richard Bacon, the Conservative MP appointed to lead the review, warned that England is blighted by “houses designed by accountants”, and said that people need more choice over the design and layout of their homes. The report proposes setting targets for local authorities to provide “ready to build” plots. The government, it said, should impose sanctions on those that fail to meet demand and publish a register to show how councils were performing. Developers that build on public land or receive government loans to unlock sites for housing would be required to create a portion of serviced plots for self-builders. The report stated that as many as 100,000 of the government’s 300,000 annual target for new homes could be provided by custom and self-build homes to meet demand. It added that a target should be set to build between 30,000 and 40,000 custom and self-build homes each year. In the year before the pandemic, they accounted for only about 10,000, or 4%, of the 240,000 new homes completed. In Germany, self-commissioned homes account for about 55% of new homes, compared with 31% in France. The policy intervention is intended to reduce the dominance of Britain’s biggest builders in the housing market. Britain’s 10 largest housebuilders control 44% of housing delivery. That compares with 14% in Australia and 15% in the US. Bacon added that there was a danger we could become a “nation in which a whole generation struggles to find somewhere to live at all, while the other adds to its buy-to-let-portfolio”. The Bacon Review puts forward 6 recommendations: A greater role for Homes England, with the creation of a new Custom and Self Build Housing Delivery Unit supporting the creation of serviced plots on small and large sites and delivery at scale. Raise awareness and show by ‘doing’, including with a custom and self build ‘Show Park’ and a more robust approach to legislation. Support community, diversity and levelling up – and crucially by reigniting the Community Housing Fund and creating more opportunities for communities to build. Promote greener homes and increased use of Modern Methods of Manufacturing (MMC) – custom and self build is a leading innovator in these areas, and could be used to signpost the future for government’s MMC and Net Zero Housing ambitions. Align custom and self build changes with planning reforms – in particular through maximising opportunities for permissioned land for custom and self build, across all tenures. Iron out tax issues to create a level playing field between this type of homes and speculatively built homes. Earlier this year, the government announced plans for a new £150m Help to Build scheme which could offer interest-free government loans of up to 40% to build a home. The MHCLG said it will publish more detail on Help to Build shortly followed by its official response to the Bacon Review in the Autumn, including reviewing options on how best to support Custom and Self-build (CSB) housebuilding.