Sir Edward Lister: ‘unwilling councils will not receive grant funding’
Homes and Communities Agency chairman Sir Edward Lister has warned local authorities they will not benefit from housing funds if they are against development.
“Our thinking within the agency is this is a journey of the willing,” he said today at the UK housing delivery summit. “We are not going to waste our time battling people.”
The HCA will be forced to battle with unwilling councils where it is releasing government land. However, Lister said that “generally speaking” it would rather not face the fight because the agency “cannot afford to waste time”.
Homes and Communities Agency chairman Sir Edward Lister has warned local authorities they will not benefit from housing funds if they are against development.
“Our thinking within the agency is this is a journey of the willing,” he said today at the UK housing delivery summit. “We are not going to waste our time battling people.”
The HCA will be forced to battle with unwilling councils where it is releasing government land. However, Lister said that “generally speaking” it would rather not face the fight because the agency “cannot afford to waste time”.
“We need to deliver houses, and therefore we need local authorities that want to deliver houses.”
The HCA is a government body which allocates funding to speed up land delivery and housebuilding.
Funds controlled by the HCA include the £2bn Accelerated Construction Fund and the £2.3bn Housing Infrastructure Fund.
Explaining how the Accelerated Construction Fund will work, Lister said government land will be offered to the industry, developers will be asked to quote a price, quote an overage price and they say how much they want for the HCA to underwrite the scheme.
“We don’t want 250 units built over five years, we want 250 units tomorrow,” Lister said.
“You will have to start taking greater risk… But at least we will be there and can take them off you if you fail.”
Lister also said there was nothing to restrict the HCA from using its funds to directly invest in “disruptor” construction methods, warning that the existing supply chain is “in crisis”.
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