HBF Wales Weekly News Summary Friday 26 October 2007

Top Stories Government new homes target is not enough to solve affordability problem with prices standing at more than seven times salaries.. Read Yvette Cooper to unveil new drive to deliver more affordable housing...Read OFT to survey owners of new homes...Read

Government new homes target is not enough to solve affordability problem with prices standing at more than seven times salaries.. Read

Yvette Cooper to unveil new drive to deliver more affordable housing...Read

OFT to survey owners of new homes...Read

A second public inquiry into plans to develop up to 450 homes at Llanelli's Stradey Park has started.

A resident has applied to have training pitches bordering the rugby ground designated a village green, which would mean the land could not be built on.

Read more

Denbighshire Council's leader and her cabinet face a second vote of no confidence in the space of a year. The council said it had received a notice of motion signed by 13 members, expressing a vote of no confidence in Rhiannon Hughes and her team.

The councillor behind the motion said there was particular concern after two reports criticising the council's education service.

Read more

The ONS 2006-based population projections have been released and the figures are set to increase in Wales by 5% by 2016. This will no doubt have implications to the household projections that will follow.

Read more about the projections

New research from Bank of Scotland on agricultural land prices shows that on a regional basis, Wales experienced the fastest increase in agricultural land prices since 2003 with a 74% rise.

Current housing targets are not enough to solve affordability problem in England, according to a report released this morning by the National Housing and Planning Advice Unit (NHPAU), the independent body set up to advise ministers on new homes.

The report sets out the NHPAU’s response to the Government's Green Paper Homes for the future: more affordable, more sustainable.  It welcomes the Government’s new target for the delivery of 240,000 net additional homes a year by 2016 but says in the long run the country will need to deliver 270,000 homes per year to stablise housing affordability. The report states that average prices in England were more than seven times average salaries and said they were set to reach nine-and-a-half times this by 2026.

In its report, the NHPAU also stresses the importance of ‘building the right type of homes, in the right place and at the right time’ and that the success in achieving this challenge depends on ‘developing a deeper coalition of planning authorities, industry, local communities, housing and planning professionals, politicians, government and interest groups.’

Their response to the Green Paper also marks the start of a dialogue between NHPAU and regional partners about the establishment of a new housing supply range to be tested in each region. NHPAU will be advising the Government on regional supply in the Spring.

View the full report >

http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/pdf/523984

Housing Minister Yvette Cooper will today unveil a new drive to deliver more affordable housing by bringing empty homes back into use and giving more cash to communities who are building more homes.

She will make announcements in four key areas:-

New rules and incentives so only councils with robust strategies for reducing the numbers of empty homes will have access to a £510 million pot to support councils and communities who are working to deliver more homes. Those strategies would be expected to include working with property owners to find solutions; incentives such as advice and grants; and the use of empty dwelling management orders to compulsory purchase homes as a last resort.

Extra cash for communities that are doing most to support more homes in their area. In areas where the number of homes is increasing by more than 0.75% a year of the total stock, councils could get an extra £1,100 from the government for every additional home, on top of infrastructure funding and developer contributions. The funding is part of a new incentive package to encourage councils and communities to do more to support affordable housing, and to ensure that those areas doing their bit should properly benefit. Support could rise to £5,000 per home by 2010/11.  We are keen to see more family homes in areas. Therefore, we are also consulting on whether there could be higher rates of grant for family homes compared to smaller properties. 

An end to the moratorium on housing numbers for local authorities who want to build more but have been prevented from doing so by outdated regional targets. Some councils claim they have been prevented from granting planning permission for more homes because out dated regional targets have been regarded as a ceiling on the number of homes in the area. Yvette Cooper will say that under new planning guidance, old targets must not be regarded as a ceiling on the homes built in an area, and that local authorities should be supporting more homes.

More cash for councils who are identifying good sites for more homes. Councils who have set out a 5 year plan of good sites for homes, and have consulted with local communities on plans for 15 years into the future will get more funding.
The announcements will be made in a new consultation to be announced today.

One thousand new-build home owners will shortly be invited to take part in a survey by the OFT offering them the opportunity to contribute to its home building market study.

The study, which was announced in June 2007, is looking at potential competition and consumer concerns within the private home building market. Home owners who take part in the survey will be asked about their experiences of purchasing and living in their new home. They will be asked how satisfied they are with the quality and range of properties available as well as the adequacy of redress if something goes wrong.

The OFT has commissioned Marketing Sciences, a market research company, to conduct one thousand interviews. These will represent a cross section of properties purchased in Great Britain in the last two years, including houses, flats and bungalows. Home owners will be interviewed by a researcher at their home.

In addition, the OFT will also conduct surveys of builders and local authority planners in the coming months as part of the evidence gathering stage of the study.

More strategic powers for the Mayor of London in key areas ranging from climate change to housing to culture have become law this week as the Greater London Authority (GLA) Act received Royal Assent.

The Act brings into law a broad package of additional powers for the Mayor of London and the London Assembly including new lead roles in housing and tackling climate change, strengthened powers over planning and waste, and enhanced powers in health and culture.

Under the provisions of the GLA Act 2007 the Mayor will:

Specific issues for HBF members are:

Housing:

The Mayor is statutorily required to produce a Housing Strategy for London (a draft was published in September) which includes the ‘broad' stipulation of housing, affordable housing ‘products' and their spatial distribution.

Local authority housing strategies should be in conformity with the Mayor's Housing Strategy.

Planning:

The Mayor is provided with powers to influence what Local Development Documents local authorities produce to ensure that these reflect the London Plan and the Housing Strategy.

Sub-section (2) of section 1 of the T&CPAct 1990 is amended giving the Mayor the power to determine applications of potential strategic importance. The definition of this remains as outlined in the Town and Country Planning Order (Mayor of London) 2007, i.e. developments involving more than 150 homes.

Climate Change and Energy:

The Mayor and Assembly are statutorily charged with addressing climate change and accounting for this in all policy making. The accompanying Regulatory Impact Assessment document explicitly acknowledges London's role in pioneering carbon trading and renewable energy measures. The same document acknowledges the costs to businesses of climate related change policies, but it reasons that since the provisions will not be mandatory it is hoped that a partnership approach will resolve difficulties.

HM Treasury have published a summary of the responses received to their consultation regarding tax incentives for development of brownfield land, including that made by HBF.

Treasury will be holding further discussions with key stakeholders to explore some of the issues arising out of the responses, as well as seeking further empirical evidence. The Government will publish its response to the consultation by the end of 2007 and remains committed to reform and to making a further announcement at Budget 2008. The Government also reaffirmed its commitment that the overall support for remediation of hard to remediate sites through the tax system should not be less after reform than it is at present.

View HM Treasury summary of responses

View HBF response

Communities and Local Government have published a consultation paper setting out proposals for amending the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (England and Wales) Regulations 1999 (SI 1999/293) in England to take account of two judgments of the European Court of Justice in May 2006. These require that where development consent comprises a multi-stage process e.g. outline planning applications, EIA can be required before approval of reserved matters. The Regulations will also apply to conditions attached to full planning permissions which do not permit development until the submission of certain detailed matters and their approval by the planning authority. The consultation period runs until 11th January 2008.

View the CLG consultation paper

Communities and Local Government have published a consultation paper seeking views on the mechanisms to be used to allocate the new Housing and Planning Delivery Grant as announced in the Housing Green Paper.

The planning element is proposed to be paid to those authorities who can demonstrate at least 5 years supply of good sites for housing and a further 10 years worth for future development as required by PPS3.

The housing element of the grant will be available to those authorities whose housing stock is set to rise by more than 0.75% a year and will be additional to infrastructure funding and developer contributions.

The consultation paper will be available shortly on the CLG website>

http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/deliverygrantallocation

On the 23rd October the Government Office for the East Of England (GO-East) launched an eight-week further public consultation into the draft East of England Plan (Regional Spatial Strategy), after minor changes have been made to ensure that it is fully compliant with the EU Habitats Directive. This directive aims to ensure that proposed developments do not affect the integrity of protected habitats.

The draft Plan, including the Secretary of State's proposed changes, was reassessed against the EU Habitats Directive between July and September 2007. It found that minor amendments needed to be made. However, the proposed changes do not affect the level of growth for the region or the Plan's strategy.

View the revised Plan and supporting habitats and sustainability appraisal assessments

The deadline for comments is the 18th December.

For further information please contact pete.errington@hbf.co.uk  

A new online tool that will help construction companies plan carbon-wise projects and reduce their carbon footprint was launched on Tuesday by the Environment Agency.

The spreadsheet-based tool, which from November 2007 will be mandatory to use during the planning stage on all major Environment Agency construction projects, is now being made available to other construction companies, government bodies and consultants.

Features of the new tools take into account:

The tool provides a way to find where significant carbon savings can be made during the planning and design process and can be also used to audit the carbon footprint of a completed project.

The Carbon Footprint Calculator can be viewed and downloaded here

The Bank of England has published its Financial Stability Report which provides an initial assessment of the causes of the recent financial turmoil, lessons to be learnt and prospects ahead.

In a press release issued this week the Bank of England commented as follows:

"The continuing deterioration in US sub-prime mortgage markets exposed vulnerabilities in the valuation and distribution of risks within the global financial system. This led to disruptions to some of the largest and most liquid markets in the world, including the money markets. That has affected banks in all advanced economies, as risks have flowed back to their balance sheets and funding pressures have intensified, and in the UK led to Northern Rock having to turn to the UK authorities for liquidity support.

While it is too early for a full assessment, some lessons are already clear including the need for improved management of liquidity; more transparency in the composition and valuation of structured products and banks' exposures to off balance sheet vehicles; and better stress testing and contingency planning. In the UK, the authorities also need to strengthen their crisis management arrangements.

Actions in these areas and the strong capital position of UK banks should help restore confidence as risk is re-priced. There have been signs of recovery in some financial markets, though a return to earlier conditions of under-priced risk would be undesirable. A period of tighter credit conditions, especially for higher-risk borrowers, should be expected. But in the short run the financial system in the advanced economies remains vulnerable to further adjustments, whether in the credit markets which have been most affected to date or, for example, in the equity or commercial property markets."

View the full report

Latest figures from the British Bankers Association show:

The latest statistics from the Office of National Statistics show that UK population is projected to increase by 4.4 million by 2016. This increase is equivalent to an average annual rate of growth of 0.7 per cent.

If past trends continue, the population will continue to grow, reaching 71 million by 2031. This is due to natural increase (more births than deaths) and because it is assumed there will be more immigrants than emigrants (a net inward flow of migrants).

In common with most other countries, the UK has an ageing population. The proportion of people aged 65 and over is projected to increase from 16 per cent in 2006 to 22 per cent by 2031. This is an inevitable consequence of the age structure of the population alive today, in particular the ageing of the large numbers of people born after the Second World War and during the 1960s baby boom. As a result, demographic support ratios will fall. In 2006, there were 3.3 people of working age for every person of state pensionable age. This ratio is projected to fall to 2.9 by 2031, taking into account the future changes to state pension age.

The latest survey from the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) has revealed a quiet September for the housing market as the number of sales agreed and buyers on books were both down for the time of year, while stock levels were reported to be at a high.

After a slight pick up between July and August, NAEA members from around the country reported reduced activity this September. They say, higher than usual stock levels for one and two bedroom properties have yet to be matched with enough keen buyers and this is causing problems for some regional markets. At the other end of the scale, after a bout of new instructions prior to the second stage launch of home information packs (HIPs) in September, there is now a shortage of new three and four bedroom properties coming onto the market and this is again causing problems.

A number of factors have combined recently to affect the market over what is traditionally a busier time for estate agency. Interest rate rises, the international ‘credit crunch' and election indecision have all been cited alongside HIPs as contributors to the current lull.

View full report from NAEA

New research from Bank of Scotland shows that agricultural land prices in England and Wales have risen by 47% in the past three years from an average of £3,121 per acre in 2003 to £4,602 in 2006. The 47% increase in agricultural land prices was greater than the 33% rise in UK house prices over the same period and almost seven times greater than retail price inflation (7%).

View full research

The HBF has responded to the CLG consultation ‘The Future of the Code for Sustainable Homes: Making a Rating Mandatory'.

The consultation asks whether the Code should be amended in stages and whether Lifetime homes should become a mandatory element rather than optional, as current stands.

HBF argues that this would have serious implications for the industry in terms of density and cost and that the Code levels should remain consistent for the life of the Code, to allow comparisons to be made.

View the HBF consultation response 

The 2016 task force met again on Wednesday. The meeting was chaired by Housing Minister Yvette Cooper and attended by HBF Executive Chairman, Stewart Baseley plus HBF Technical Director, Dave Mitchell. The task force is considering conducting research and other work streams to help HBF members and the industry identify, in more detail, the key issues needing to be addressed to achieve the 2016 zero carbon homes target.

The HBF Technical Conference entitled ‘the road to zero carbon is paved with building regulations' will be taking place at York Racecourse on Wednesday 14th November 2007.

View the full agenda for the day and book online

Or contact the Events Team 020 7960 1646

HBF Annual Yorkshire Dinner - 8th November
The HBF Annual Yorkshire Dinner will be held at a new venue this year - the Crown Hotel, Harrogate www.crownhotelharrogate.com  

The evening will commence at 7.30, for 8pm, with an opening speech from Rob Pearson, Yorkshire Area Director at English Partnerships and will be followed by a superb a three-course dinner. Dress code is lounge suits.

Tables of 10 or 12 are available.
Tickets are £70.00 per person excluding VAT

To book please download the booking form

Or contact the Events Team 020 7960 1646

HBF North West Social Dinner - 8th February 2008

The HBF North West Social Dinner will be held at the Midland Hotel, Peter St, Manchester M60 2DS.

The evening commences at 7.30pm for 8.00pm with a three-course dinner and wine, followed by a live band and disco.

Cost £70 + VAT. Tables of 10 and 12 can be booked - if you require a larger table please contact the events team.

To book please download the booking form

Or contact the Events Team 020 7960 1646

Jo Weston

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