But much more to do to enable builders to meet peoples’ housing needs The Home Builders Federation (HBF) sees Housing Minister Grant Shapps’ announcement today of a Community Right to Build for people in rural communities as a first step in setting out how the Government’s fresh approach to planning could help to meet the country’s major need for more homes. The HBF believes the proposed new right for rural communities to proceed with smaller scale local housing schemes where there is strong backing for these in the immediate area is an interesting initiative to cut red tape in the planning system. It could bring additional possibilities to meet the housing needs of more rural areas in an efficient way and so help sustain such communities in the face of the very real pressures many of them currently face. The Community Right to Buy in itself, however, is only likely to be a small part of overall response that is needed to meet the country’s major shortage of housing. Following the Government’s revocation of the former Regional Strategies there is therefore a pressing need to set out the details of how the new local and community-based planning system will work to provide conditions that enable home builders and other housing providers to meet requirements for new homes more effectively. The Federation will be working closely with the government in coming months on these details in preparation for the Decentralisation and Localism Bill. The Federation also pointed out that it is vital to tackle the regulatory burdens and complexities that face housing providers to enable the industry to respond more flexibly and effectively to what people want. Commenting, HBF Executive Chairman Stewart Baseley said: “Today’s announcement is an interesting initiative to make the planning system more flexible and less bureaucratic in responding to clearly expressed local needs for housing. We welcome that, but a Community Right to Buy for rural areas can inevitably only be a fairly small part of the answer to meeting the nation’s major shortfall of housing – estimated at nearly 1 million homes. The Government needs to work with equal speed with industry and others to flesh out the details of its wider planning reform agenda to ensure this provides a climate giving companies the confidence to invest in the housing solutions required to meet peoples’ needs and aspirations”. For media enquiries, or to arrange an interview, please contact Steve Turner on 020 7960 1606 / 07919 307 760 or steve.turner@hbf.co.uk Notes to Editors: 1. The Home Builders Federation (HBF) is the representative body of the home building industry in England and Wales. The HBF’s 300 member firms account for some 80% of all new homes built in England and Wales in any one year, and include companies of all sizes, ranging from multi-national, household names through regionally based businesses to small local companies: www.hbf.co.uk
