HBF Wales Weekly News Summary Friday 30 November 2007

Top Stories *CLG publishes Planning Bill *HBF joins energy industry to discuss zero carbon issues with Yvette Cooper *House Prices fall by 0.8% in November

Jocelyn Davies, Deputy Minister for Housing, has pledged to provide 6,500 new affordable homes to Wales over the next four years.

During a visit to the Aquila housing development in Cardiff Bay, the Minister said: "We need to increase the resources we are providing for affordable housing if we are to deliver on the commitments we have made in One Wales including our sustainability objectives."

Read more

Conwy County Borough Council members have called for an interim local development plan (LDP) as a matter of urgency to stop a stream of developments in the area. Councillors this week backed a motion to approach the Welsh Assembly Government to introduce a "clause of protection". The council said it is turning down what it thinks are unsuitable developments only for inspectors to approve them on appeal because there is no LDP in place.

Read more

Energy secretary John Hutton has given the green light to the developer Prenergy, to built the biggest biomass plant in the world.

The £400m renewable energy plant in Port Talbot, South Wales will generate enough clean electricity to power half of the homes in the region.

Read more

Sir Bryan Carsberg, former Director General of the Office of Fair Trading, will be undertaking a review of the whole arena of private housing with a particular focus on regulation and redress in the estate agency sector; developments in technology; efficiency of transactions and decreasing carbon emissions from housing stock.

In relation to this review, the RICS will be joined by Sir Bryan Carsberg for a seminar at the Mercure Holland House Hotel in Cardiff on Tuesday 4 December 2007, from 5pm - 7.30pm. Attendance is free of charge.

If you would like to attend the event or for more information on the review, please click the web link below, or contact the HBF Wales office.

HBF would also welcome members' views on the issues raised in the Carsberg review as we have been approached separately for a response to the consultation document.

More

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears published the new Planning Bill on 27 November.

The Bill will reform the planning system for major infrastructure projects and also contains the enabling provisions for the introduction of the planning charge -to be known as the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)

On major infrastructure, under the Bill: -

Detailed provisions relating to the CIL will be introduced through secondary legislation in due course. HBF is continuing to discuss the details of how the CIL will work with CLG officials. HBF has been asked to set out its views on the new arrangements so that these can inform the drafting of the secondary legislation.

View the Planning Bill 

The Prime Minister and Housing Minister Yvette Cooper have published the Thames Gateway Delivery Plan, setting out how cross-Government investment of more than £9 billion will be spent to deliver Europe's largest regeneration initiative.

The Plan details how the Government will accelerate progress in the Gateway in key areas; a strong economy, a better quality of life for residents, and the creation of an eco-region in the Gateway.

The Government announced:

Housing Minister Yvette Cooper said:

"Since last year the Government has secured funding for major projects that are transforming the Gateway - the new deal on Crossrail, a new high speed line to London, Paris and Brussels, and London Gateway, the biggest deepwater port in Europe."

More Online

The East of England Regional Panel Report has been published for the draft Regional Spatial Strategy.

Regional housing figures have been increased to reflect the 2004 household projections with consequent adjustments at housing market/district level. Total provision for the region is recommended at 540,410 (2001-2026) which equates to 451,070 for the period 2006-2026.

The panel also concluded that there remains a shortfall in housing provision for the whole plan period, however, to increase the requirements above what is recommended would have sustainability implications, not least of all for transport. The Panel has recommended that while the draft is sufficiently robust to provide adequate context for the first round of local Core Strategy preparation, it refers to the proposals in the Housing Green Paper regarding bringing forward early reviews of regional spatial strategies with a further round of consultation necessary to test higher levels of growth.

The panel has also recommended that housing market areas represent the most appropriate units for planning housing provision at regional level. On this basis, the Panel have recommended that the relevant local planning authorities within each housing market area should agree with the assembly the distribution of housing between their authorities to total the new 2004 adjusted figures.

The Panel has recommended that matters such as the location of urban extensions are matters for planning at the local level and most of the location specific material is excised, bar the Lincoln Policy Areas Sub-regional Strategy.

The Regional Transport Strategy and Appendix 6 are found unsound and the Panel recommend a comprehensive reappraisal of the region's transport strategy based upon sounder evidence.

Britain's population could almost double to 108 million within 75 years, according to Government projections published this week.

The Office for National Statistics said that, based on high estimates of growth in immigration, fertility and longevity, the current population of 60.5 million could rise to 75 million by 2031 and 108.7 million by 2081.

But the projections drawn up by the Government Actuary's Department to help Whitehall plan pension and welfare provision also show that in a scenario of low fertility, low life expectancy and low migration, the population would increase to 66 million by 2056 and then dip to 63 million by 2081.

The CBI's Climate Change Task Force published its report ‘Climate Change: Everyone's business' this week.

In assessing the issues across the economy, the report highlights the importance of energy efficiency in buildings and shows that by 2030, moving to low carbon sources of electricity and improving energy use in buildings can deliver about 30 per cent of the additional cuts needed.

There are two key messages. Firstly, a much greater sense of urgency is needed if the UK is to meet its targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Secondly, the UK effort will only succeed if climate change becomes an urgent, shared national priority for government, consumers and business.

It says that the Government must rebuild the UK's power generation capacity including renewable energy, nuclear and wind power to decarbonise energy supply and that Businesses should redouble their efforts to improve energy efficiency particularly in areas such as buildings and transport. It advocates empowering the consumer by providing information, wider access to low carbon products and better incentives to improve energy efficiency at home.

View the report summary

Carbon emissions from UK homes could be cut by 80 per cent by 2050, according to a new report published by the University of Oxford's Environmental Change Institute and backed by Friends of the Earth.

The report, Home Truths, assesses the Government's record and sets out a blue print for delivering major carbon cuts from UK homes whilst also seeking to eradicate fuel poverty, create jobs; cut energy bills; and increase fuel security.

Carbon dioxide emissions from the housing sector have risen by more than five per cent since 1997 and account for 27 per cent of the UK's carbon footprint. The report also found that current Government policies will only deliver half the cuts in household carbon emissions they should have achieved by 2020.

It outlines a comprehensive policy framework at local, national and EU level, for cutting carbon emissions from new and existing homes.
Although the report's primary focus is the existing stock, key recommendations include:

The CPRE have issued a second report on the Thames Gateway. According to the measures chosen by the CPRE, half the boroughs in the area show either regression or no progress in respect of five out of 10 key indicators.

The report states that at least half the local authorities show regression or no improvement on:

However, the report also states that most local authorities in the Thames Gateway achieved improvements in:

View Thames Gateway report 

Barratt Developments has published preliminary findings from its ‘eco village' project in Chorley, Lancashire - a 15 month experiment into how effectively ‘green' technologies can be incorporated into new homes.

Academics from The University of Manchester have been monitoring the renewable technologies which Barratt installed in the seven-unit development and are now compiling the report on their performance.

Key preliminary findings include:

Mark Clare, CEO of Barratt Developments, said: "The eco village has been an invaluable test bed which has helped separate renewable myth from renewable reality. The challenge now is to drive down costs to ensure that they have the widest possible take-up."

"Barratt is now using renewable technologies at 40 of our developments. The Photovoltaic roof panels and Solar Hot Water Thermal Collectors are key features which we will use going forward. So too is the Air Source Heat Pump, which operates on similar principles to other Heat Pumps."

For further information on this story

Nationwide released their latest house price report yesterday: -

View the full report

Retail sales volumes continued to rise over the year to November according to the latest CBI Distributive Trades Survey. However, the rate of growth was below the long-run average for the fourth consecutive month, and remains notably weaker than during the first half of the year. Looking ahead to the Christmas period, retailers expect moderate growth in retail sales to continue. Meanwhile, retailers also reported significant year-on-year growth in average selling prices, the strongest since May 1998, and a reflection of the rising cost pressures they currently face.

A third of mortgage borrowers are facing severe financial difficulties as a result of the credit crunch, according to a report published this week.

Mintel, the consumer research group, said that 5.5 million people would be hit by higher monthly outgoings from rises in the cost of mortgages.

Mintel found that nearly 1.5 million borrowers had fallen behind on monthly mortgage repayments. The report said that "unconventional" borrowers, including the self-employed or recently divorced, were the most likely victims of the mortgage cull because they posed more risk to lenders.

Bank of England statistics report 87,000 mortgage approvals in October, down from 100,000 in September, and the lowest since February 2005. Net mortgage lending also fell to £7.3bn in October, down from £9.5bn last month.

London house prices experienced a greater fall than any other region in October, according to the latest monthly figures from Land Registry.

October's House Price Index shows that prices in London fell 0.6 per cent, while the market in England and Wales as a whole demonstrated a slight increase of 0.1 per cent.

The average house price for England and Wales now stands at £184,346; in London the figure is £351,039. For more information and to view the latest statistical release please click here

HBF Executive Chairman Stewart Baseley, accompanied by the Chief Executives of Barratt, Bovis and Taylor Wimpey, joined energy suppliers from the UK Business Council for Sustainable Energy (UKBCSE) this week for a meeting with Housing Minister Yvette Cooper. The two industries stated that given current technical and commercial uncertainties their shared wish was for a flexible approach to the provision of the new low and zero carbon energy supplies that will be required to meet the zero carbon standard. The Minister made clear that suitable assurance about the additionality of new decarbonised energy supply for zero carbon homes was important. It was agreed that HBF and UKBCSE would prepare joint proposals on how they saw such additional energy supply capacity being realised with a view to a further meeting with the Minister in the New Year.

Wednesday 30 January - One Birdcage Walk, London

The Government has called on the UK house building industry to increase house building levels to 240,000 homes per year and to build homes to zero carbon standards by 2016.

This full day conference is perfectly timed at the beginning of the year to give delegates a detailed and comprehensive overview of the market and policy issues facing the industry.

The conference will cover:

HBF are pleased to announce Peter Redfern, Group Chief Executive of Taylor Wimpey as our Keynote Speaker.

HBF Executive Chairman Stewart Baseley and the HBF Senior Management Team will be speaking at this conference and will be available to take any questions.

To book, download the booking form or click here to book on line with your credit card. 

Please contact the Events Team on 020 7960 1646 or events@hbmedia.co.uk with any queries.

The HBF North West Social Dinner, sponsored by Countrywide Property Management, 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

This year's Midlands AGM and Lunch will be held on Friday 22nd February 2008 at Sketchley Grange.

For further details of this event please contact the events team 020 7960 1646

The HBF AGM and Annual Industry Lunch will be held at the Hyatt Regency - The Churchill, London W1 on Wednesday 23rd April 2008.

The AGM is open to members only and will commence at 11.30. Non-members are invited to join the drinks reception at 12.30 and lunch at 13.00.

Tables of 10 or 12 booked before the 8th February 2008 will receive a 10% discount.

Please note due to high demand in previous years, places are strictly on a first-come first-served basis and booking early is highly recommended.

Cost - HBF Members: £85 plus VAT. Non Members: £95 plus VAT.

To book download a booking form or contact the events team on 020 7960 1646 or email events@hbmedia.co.uk

Jo Weston