Friday, 26th February 2010 Top stories this week Conservative planning green paper.....read more John Healey announces further £500m boost for affordable homes.....read more BBA: January figures for the main high street banks.....read more Standard fee for extension of planning permissions approved.....read more Policy Statement on Regional Strategies.....read more English Housing Survey: Headline Report 2008-09.....read more Nationwide: House prices slip in the winter snow during February.....read more Annual Lunch speakers announced; Raynsford and Gummer.....read more Quick Links Government and political news Economic news Industry news Housing market news HBF news Events Government and political news Conservative planning green paper The long-awaited Conservative Party planning green paper “Open Source Planning” has been published this week following a speech by David Cameron in which he said: “We have a real problem with the planning process in our country. “Whether it's building new housing developments or giving the green light to new business parks or leisure facilities, the whole process can be divisive and frustrating... “...with developers, residents, councils and all interested parties fighting it out and things either never getting built or causing massive resentment when they do. “But imagine if we put local people in real control over the look, shape, feel and character of the community. “Imagine if we let them decide how many houses they want build or whether they want a new park or playground. “And imagine if we made all this collaboration possible by removing the obstacles to community engagement and giving local people a real incentive to get involved. “In the post-bureaucratic age, that's what the planning system should look like - and that's the planning system we're going to create.” Using collaborative democracy to allow local authorities to create “bottom up” local plans, helping local residents to shape and protect the character of the neighbourhood; Rewarding councils and communities through incentives to encourage building new homes and businesses; Abolishing the “undemocratic and ineffective” tier of regional planning overseen by “unelected regional quangos”; Creating “presumption in favour of sustainable development”; Proposals for transition, including the expectation that “option 1” RSS housing number bids would apply; Introduction of a third party right of appeal for local residents; Scrapping the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) whilst retaining a fast track process to avoid planning inquiries taking years. Please click here to view a copy of the paper. The HBF has produced a Member Briefing regarding the content of the Conservatives’ paper, please click here to view * *Member only content, please remember to log in to top HBF response to the Conservative planning green paper Whilst welcoming the Conservatives’ commitment to increase much needed housing supply, the HBF’s response to the Planning Green Paper proposals was that they pose some significant concerns for developers the HBF said on behalf of the house building industry. In a press release the HBF said that it believes that scrapping regional targets and structures and devolving power down to local communities is a high risk strategy, as whilst most people recognise the general need for more housing, when it is on their doorstep acceptance of that principle is often lacking. HBF Executive Chairman Stewart Baseley said: “Whilst appreciating that there are shortcomings in the current planning system, implementation of such a radical policy potentially is a high risk strategy and may have unintended consequences which need to be addressed. HBF and the industry is committed to working with whichever party is in power to ensure much needed housing is delivered.” Read more to top Grant Shapps gives NHBC election lecture Following publication of the Conservatives’ Green Paper, Shadow Housing Minister Grant Shapps gave an election lecture this week at an event organised by the NHBC. Mr Shapps confirmed that, if elected, the Conservatives would press ahead quickly with radical change to the planning system, but would provide for transitional arrangements and safeguards, including the early introduction of a new financial incentive to reward housing provision. He said the Conservatives would also create incentives for new local plans to be produced within about a year to 18 months of a new regime. to top John Healey announces further £500m boost for affordable homes Housing Minister John Healey has announced a further boost to house building in England, by confirming nearly £500m funding to build around 8,000 affordable homes across the country. This takes total Government funding announced for house building to £3.5bn since June. Every region of the country is benefiting from this extra cash to build affordable homes for sale and rent. Over 3,000 of these new homes are expected to be available through the Government's HomeBuy schemes, offering first-time buyers a helping hand onto the property ladder. And nearly 5,000 homes will be available for affordable rent through housing associations. John Healey said: "We have used the power of public investment to ensure that even during the downturn we continued to build the homes this country needs. When levels of private housebuilding plummeted, we stepped in with record levels of funding to get Britain building again. "So today, I can confirm I have given the go-ahead to nearly £500million extra funding for Housing Associations to build 8,000 new homes. But I want to make the most of every taxpayer's pound, which is why I am requiring those benefiting from this extra cash to offer local job and apprenticeship opportunities. "Today's investment in more affordable housing takes total Government help for housebuilding to £3.5billion since June. As the economy continues its recovery, I am determined that this support continues for the industry, for first-time buyers and for families." Read more to top New Homes Marketing Board / Smith Institute: Pre-Election Housing Debate 2010: Howell hints at ‘Option 1’ targets. In a debate hosted by the NHMB and Smith Institute in London this week Richard Blakeway and John Howell summarised the Conservative Party’s proposals to change the planning system in England in order to better engage with the public. Interestingly, Howell indicated that the Option 1 housing targets – those originally proposed by the Regional Assemblies – might be more binding upon local authorities in terms of calculating their five year land supply than previously suggested or indicated by the Tories in their Green Paper. to top Economic news BBA: January figures for the main high street banks According to the latest data released by the British Bankers’ Association, mortgage lending in January was relatively weak, showing a reaction to the inflated December market and the adverse weather conditions which impacted on activity. Consumer credit declined further but personal deposits held up. BBA Statistics Director, David Dooks, said of the latest data: "It was no surprise to see the January mortgage figures falling back from December, when transactions were being pushed through to beat the end of stamp duty relief. There was a natural reaction in the January figures and the bad weather further suppressed market activity. "After the Christmas period, demand for consumer credit was weaker in January, as people shied away, or were discouraged by the weather, from retail spending and held on to their deposits. "The total amount lent to non-financial companies of £340bn continues to contract, as demand for finance remains subdued and trading conditions are still adversely impacting on business sentiment." Read more to top Industry news Standard fee for extension of planning permissions approved The new fee regulations for certain categories of planning application, including applications to extend existing planning permissions, were finally approved by the House of Lords on the 25th February 2010. Thus, as of the 26th February an application to extend existing planning permissions attracts a standard fee of either £170 for minor applications (less than 10 dwellings) or £500 for major applications (10 or more dwellings) rather than the full planning application fee as was the case hitherto. The Chief Planning Officer has sent a letter to all local planning authorities advising them of this important change. to top Policy Statement on Regional Strategies The “Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009” makes provision for Responsible Regional Authorities to prepare the new style integrated Regional Strategies, which would subsume the current Regional Spatial Strategies. This Policy Statement sets out the Government’s policy framework for the preparation of the new Regional Strategies. It provides policy on the preparation and revision of Regional Strategies and sets out the main expectations on their form, content, implementation and monitoring. Read more to top CLG: Letter to Chief Planning Officers: Development on garden land In a letter addressed to the Chief Planning Officers this week, signed by CLG’s Steve Quartermain (Chief Planner), it was stated that: “There has been some concern expressed about the extent to which developers are redeveloping on existing domestic curtilage and to what extent local planning authorities feel that such development cannot be resisted on the basis that such development is on previously developed land. “The Government commissioned independent research on this matter and my purpose in writing is to inform you of a Ministerial statement issued on 19th January that outlines the Government’s response to the findings of the research produced by Kingston University. In this statement a commitment was given to write to provide more detail on how the Governments position can be implemented by planning authorities. “The research finds that inappropriate building on back gardens is not a widespread, national or growing problem. A minority of authorities consider it to be of importance, mainly focussed in outer London and the South East, whereas the majority across the rest of the country do not. However, we do feel that there is merit in reminding local authorities that they already do have the means to address concerns where they exist, and that this is an issue best identified and dealt with locally.” Read more to top English Housing Survey: Headline Report 2008-09 Communities and Local Government published the English Housing Survey (EHS) Headline Report this week. The report included the following highlights: The number of owner occupied households fell from a peak of 14.8 million in 2005 and 2006 to 14.6 million in 2008-09; Couples with no dependent children were the most common type of household (36%) and the most common type of owner occupiers (42%) in 2008-09; Over half (59%) of all private renters expected to eventually buy a home in the UK compared to only around a quarter (27%) of social renters; Overcrowding was highest in the rented sectors: 6.7% of social rented households and 5.4% of private rented households were overcrowded as measured by the bedroom standard. In contrast, only 1.6 % of owner occupiers were overcrowded; Social sector homes were on average more energy efficient than those in the private sector (a mean SAP rating of 59 and 49 respectively) and also saw greatest improvement since 1996 with their average SAP rating increasing from 47 to 59; Some 7.4 million homes (33%) were non-decent in 2008 (including 4.8 million homes with potentially serious hazards under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System). Overall social sector homes were in a better condition than private sector homes with 27% being non-decent compared to 34%. Read more to top Net supply of housing: 2008-09, England The latest England net supply of housing statistics produced by Communities and Local Government were released this week. The latest statistics report on net supply of housing up to the 2008-09 financial year and update those previously released on 27th February 2009. Key points from the latest release are: Annual housing supply in England reached 166,570 net additional dwellings in 2008-09. This is a 20% decrease on the 207,370 net additional homes supplied in the previous year, and the lowest annual level of net housing supply since 2003-04; Eight out of the nine English regions experienced a decrease in the number of net additional dwellings supplied in the 2008-09 financial year. The North East saw the largest annual decrease (43%), followed by the North West (37%); London was the only region to experience an annual increase in net housing supply (3%). Read more to top Housing Stock, England - Dwelling Stock estimates, England, 2009 The latest England Dwelling Stock estimates statistics produced by Communities and Local Government were released this week. The latest statistics report on dwelling stock in England for the 2008 and 2009 calendar years. Key points from the latest release are: There were an estimated 22,564,000 dwellings in England as at 31st March 2009, an increase of 0.74% on the previous year; There were an estimated 22,398,000 dwellings in England as at 31st March 2008, an increase of 0.93% from 2007. Read more to top Flood and Water Management Bill - Progress of the Bill During the House of Lords second reading of the Bill on 24th February, a wide-ranging discussion took place on issues including flood risk management and dealing with floods when they occur, and powers for the Environment Agency, local authorities and internal drainage boards to carry out flood works for nature conservation or cultural heritage. Committee stage - line by line examination of the Bill - is yet to be scheduled. To keep up to date with progress of the Bill and for the latest copy of the Bill and Explanatory Notes, please click here to top Housing market news Nationwide: House prices slip in the winter snow during February According to the latest Nationwide house price index, published this week, house prices have fallen 1% in February, ending a nine-month run of price rises, although the three-month-on-three month rate of inflation remained positive at 1.6%. But in January this stood at 2%. Commenting on the figures Martin Gahbauer, Nationwide's Chief Economist, said: “The price of a typical UK property fell by a seasonally adjusted 1.0% month-on-month (m/m) in February, ending a strong run of nine consecutive monthly increases. The relatively smoother three month on three month rate of inflation remained positive at +1.6%, though this is down from +2.0% in January and a peak of +3.7% in September 2009. The annual rate of price inflation still managed to increase from 8.6% to 9.2% year-on-year, as this month’s fall was smaller than the 1.5% m/m decline recorded in February 2009. The average price of a typical property sold in the UK during February was £161,320. “There is evidence from a range of indicators that the market may have lost momentum in early 2010 as the stamp duty holiday ended and house hunters were obstructed by the icy weather. New buyer enquiries dropped sharply in the New Year and there was also an associated drop in the number of new mortgages taken out by homebuyers in January. This drop in demand seems to have fed into agreed prices during February. Judging from the fall in retail sales during January, however, the housing market does not appear to be the only sector of the economy to have experienced a setback related to adverse weather and the expiry of economic stimulus measures. At this stage, it is difficult to gauge how much of the drop in housing activity is attributable to one-off factors and therefore whether February’s fall in prices is just a temporary blip or the start of a new trend.” Read more to top CML: Scottish mortgage market recovering - but slower than UK as whole House purchase activity in Scotland continued to pick up in the final three months of 2009, according to new data released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders this week. There were 14,200 loans for house purchase in the fourth quarter (worth £1.6bn) – up 4% by number and 5% by value from the preceding three months. Growth in the Scottish market was a little slower than in the UK as a whole – which saw a 9% increase in house purchase activity in the fourth quarter and a 62% increase year on year. The rise in Scotland from the last three months of 2008 was 22% by volume and 19% by value, illustrating how the market improved over the course of 2009 from its low of 7,600 loans (worth £785m) in the first quarter. Earlier in 2008, however, the market had been much stronger so the 47,000 house purchase loans advanced over 2009 as a whole was 23% down on 2008 and the fewest in the sixteen years the CML has been producing this data. The number of first-time buyers in Scotland was unchanged at 5,400 in the fourth quarter. But the value of lending to first-time buyers increased in the last three months from £474m to £479m, and the number of loans was up from 4,100 (worth £368m) year-on-year. Commenting on the data, CML Scotland policy consultant Kennedy Foster said: “We do not anticipate an increase in lending activity immediately. Funding conditions remain challenging, economic recovery is fragile both in Scotland and in the UK as a whole, and with little likelihood of interest rates rising this side of an election, many on low variable rates have little incentive to remortgage. “A combination of bad weather in the early part of the year and the end of the stamp duty holiday will also have affected housing market activity, and will reinforce the slow start to 2010. However, the situation is much improved on a year ago, and a gradual improvement in market conditions and the wider economy should support a modest increase in activity later in the year.” Read more to top HBF news Haiti earthquake appeal Following the earthquake in Haiti, HBF launched an urgent appeal to the house building industry on behalf of its nominated charity Habitat for Humanity (HfH). The earthquake decimated the country's infrastructure and thus its ability to cope with the devastating impacts. It is a catastrophe of major proportions with early estimates suggesting that up to three million people have been killed, injured or made homeless. Habitat for Humanity has been present in Haiti, working with poor and low-income families in need of decent housing since 1981. It has a Disaster Risk Assessment Team on the ground, establishing a clear picture of the situation and providing specialist shelter provision and reconstruction assistance. Further information about this is available on their website http://www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk Whilst appreciating the difficult economic climate in which members are operating it only seems appropriate that our industry should support a charity that specialises in shelter provision, housing repair and reconstruction. How quickly we raise funds will directly affect Habitat for Humanity's ability to assist now, when their help really is needed. Please help by making a secure online donation today. http://www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk to top Events HBF to host housing ‘Question Time’ featuring Healey and Shapps 10th March, Westminster The HBF’s Policy conference will this year be a pre-election ‘Question Time’ style debate featuring the main housing political heavyweights. Housing Minister John Healey and his Tory shadow Grant Shapps will take part in an open debate to be chaired by HBF Executive Chairman Stewart Baseley. The Lib-Dems are also expected to field a representative. Questions will be taken from the assembled delegates on the key housing issues in what is sure to be a heated and fascinating debate with the General Election looming. It will be followed by a debate featuring an expert panel of leading economists, including Citigroup’s Michael Saunders and Capital Economics Ed Stansfield which will look at the prospects for both the housing market and the general economy. For further information and booking details go to; Download a booking form Visit the website to book online to top Housing Lecture 2010: Labour's Agenda Tuesday 23rd March 2010 The New Homes Marketing Board and the Centre for Social Justice are hosting an event in association with the Smith Institute that will look at Labour’s housing policy proposals. Speakers will include the NMHB chair David Pretty CBE; Rt. Hon. John Healey MP, Housing Minister. It will be chaired by Paul Hackett, Director, The Smith Institute. The event will run from 1800-1930 and be followed by a drinks reception Limited spaces available, to request a space please email housinglecturead@smith-institute.org.uk to top HBF: Event diary dates HBF has announced the return of three of its most popular social events for this year. The economic climate dictated that the HBF Ball, its North West Social dinner and its golf day have not taken place for the past two years, but member demand sees them return for 2010. Please make a note of the dates for your diary and click on the event to download the booking form: HBF Golf Day - Tuesday 13th July 2010 - Woburn Golf Course HBF North West Social Dinner - Friday 10th September 2010 - The Midland Hotel, Manchester HBF Ball - Friday 10th December 2010 - Marriott Grosvenor Square, London to top Annual Lunch speakers announced; Raynsford and Gummer HBF has announced that the speakers at this year’s Annual Lunch will be Labour MP and ex-housing minister Nick Raynsford and Conservative MP and ex secretary of state for the Environment John Gummer. The HBF AGM & Annual Industry Lunch will take place on Wednesday 28th April at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, London. The day will begin with the AGM and Open Council meeting and be followed a drinks reception and the annual lunch. The key note speaker will be announced shortly. If you have any queries about any of the above please contact the events team on 020 7960 1646 and events@house-builder.co.uk Please click here to download a booking form to top Habitat for Humanity's Hope Challenge 11-13th June 2010 Habitat for Humanity, HBF's nominated charity will again be holding its Hope Challenge event in 2010. This unique and exciting outdoor challenge event will see teams; Spending two days and two nights in the great outdoors Sleeping in a self built shelter Undertaking mental and physical team challenges Last year's Hope Challenge was a huge success and had the competitors trekking around the Edale and Hope Valleys, with a base camp in the sheltered Vale of Edale. In 2010 HforH are planning a larger and more exciting event with walking routes encompassing the surrounding hills including the Skyline Ridge over Mam Tor and the lower reaches of Kinder Scout. However this is no ordinary weekend of walking! Participating teams will also be tested on their initiative and teamwork... and by building, and sleeping out in, their very own shelter they will experience some of the challenges faced by those who live in poverty housing. Think you can rise to the challenge? Want to join HforH in Hope Challenge 2010? Find out more about Hope Challenge 2010
