Friday, 20th August 2010 Top stories this week Power to local people to preserve village life.....read more More rights needed to challenge bad planning decisions - CPRE and ELF.....read more House Building: June Quarter 2010, England.....read more RICS: Construction outlook worsens as spending cuts begin to bite.....read more New Homes Month – last chance to order your free copies of New Homes News......read more Quick Links Government and political news Housing market news Industry news Economic news Events Government and political news Power to local people to preserve village life A report published this week backs Government plans to put power in the hands of rural communities to protect and preserve village life. The Rural Challenge is published by a newly formed Rural Coalition, and argues that without radically empowering local people to make decisions about their communities, rural villages could be under threat. Alongside proposals to devolve power to residents, the coalition also calls for reform of the Housing Revenue Account system so councils can keep money from selling council homes to reinvest in affordable rural homes, and giving communities a leading role in planning for new neighbourhoods. Last month, Housing Minister Grant Shapps announced plans to give rural communities a Community Right to Build, under which they would come together to approve plans for new homes, shops and community facilities to protect and preserve rural village life. Under the proposals, which will be contained in the Localism Bill, community organisations will have the freedom to give the green light to new local developments without a specific application for planning permission, as long as there is overwhelming community backing in a local referendum. Any surplus made from the sale or renting of homes would be recycled for the benefit of the community. Grant Shapps said: "Far from the Nimbyism that often hits the headlines, up and down the country there are entire communities willing and eager to give the go-ahead for new developments in their area. The countryside must be a vibrant place to live, and cannot be allowed to become a museum. I want to give communities the power to preserve their villages, which are currently struggling to survive because of a shortage of affordable homes. "With house building at its lowest level in any peacetime year since 1924, some areas are facing a battle to keep schools and GP surgeries open as younger people are forced to move away. The new Community Right to Build could provide the answer. It will give residents the power to give the green light to new homes that are suitable and appropriate for their local area. And because local people are in charge, developments will only go ahead with their overwhelming support." Read more to top FMB: Approval threshold for new home schemes needs to be lowered The Government’s proposed approval threshold for ‘Community Right to Build’ schemes needs to be lowered from the current 90% of local people agreeing in order to prevent minorities holding back much needed development in the countryside to enable it to thrive and prosper, says the Federation of Master Builders (FMB). Brian Berry, Director of External Affairs at the FMB said: “The Government’s intention to give communities the right to grant themselves planning permission is welcome but there is a real danger that the stipulation that no more than 10% of voters object to any proposal in a local referendum will hand a tiny minority the ability to decide the future of the community without themselves having had to achieve any kind of mandate to do so. The objectors would not, as things stand, be subject to any need to justify their objection and as such the ‘right to build’ that the Government wishes to grant communities may be taken away by a handful of unaccountable people who cannot, or will not, accept the need for change.” “To make the right to build a success communities need to have the power to deliver enough housing to secure their medium and long term futures and it is very unlikely that this will happen unless the 10% objection referendum threshold is significantly raised. Most referenda are decided by a simple majority and if the Government wants local communities to exercise their right to build, they will have to consider something more in line with normal referendum practice.” Read more Note: HBF continues to be represented on the CLG sounding board investigating the details of how CRtB might be implemented, a further meeting on this was held this week. to top More rights needed to challenge bad planning decisions - CPRE and ELF The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and the Environmental Law Foundation (ELF) this week called on Ministers not to pull a U-turn on their promise to rebalance rights of appeal in the planning process by introducing a third party right of appeal. HBF has long been telling ministers of the implications of introducing such a measure, highlighting the delays and costs such a move would bring about. HBF believes such a move would be unnecessary in a community plan led system where the majority of residents had agreed the plans. CPRE and ELF this week called for a new, limited public right of appeal against bad decisions. This, they believe, is a vital right if the ‘Big Society’ is going to deliver a bigger role for local people in the planning decisions that affect them, without the huge risk of having to go to court. Alongside this call, the two organisations are also publishing a new guide, ‘Plan B: How to challenge bad developments in court,’ that explains the only way currently available for concerned members of the public to challenge bad planning decisions, through the High Court. Paul Miner, CPRE Senior Planning Campaigner says: “The Big Society should be about having stronger rights and more affordable remedies to counter bad planning decisions. Going all the way to the High Court for local issues is just ridiculous. It’s often risky, expensive and should strictly be a last resort. “A limited public right of planning appeal doesn’t stop all new development as some claim. But developers will have to meaningfully negotiate with local communities to ensure that development happens.” The Government is currently preparing a fundamental reform to the planning system to devolve more power down to local authorities and communities. While this process continues, the guide ‘Plan B’ will give local people the tools they need to challenge bad development. Paul Miner continued: “If a bad development has got planning permission, it’s not the end of the story. Mounting a challenge in court is expensive and very risky, but it can be done.” Though the scope for challenging planning decisions in court is very limited, and the process is highly risky, legal challenges to planning decisions can be successful. For example; CPRE’s Oxfordshire branch successfully applied to quash a regional planning policy calling for building on Green Belt land around Oxford; Villagers in Cornwall formed into a company and proved that the local council had not properly analysed the damage a proposed development would cause to the environment; In Redcar, local people won the right to designate land as a village green and thereby prevent the development of 300 houses. to top Reform publishes Government 100 day report Independent think tank Reform this week published a summary of the Government’s first 100 days in power. The report covers all aspects of the economy and Government policy, including housing. To view a copy of the report please click here to top Housing market news Rightmove: House price index The latest house price index produced by RIghtmove, reported that: The average house price fell by 1.7% (£4,091) across the 117,000 new properties added this month. This is the biggest reduction in asking prices we have measured so far this year, and follows on from the drop of 0.6% in July - but search activity on Rightmove set a new daily record; Available stock per agent rose for the sixth consecutive month; the highest August for fresh property for three years — 29,220 a week compared with 20,675 last year (+41.3%); Anticipated interest rate rises could lead to more repossessions - though this would improve buyer affordability by exerting further downward price pressure. Miles Shipside, Director of Rightmove comments: “No one really wants to come to market in August unless they have to. It shows these new sellers have a compelling need to sell, as they have lopped over £4,000 off the average asking price. Those who marketed earlier in the year but have yet to find a buyer may have to do a bit of pruning of their own to beat this new competition. Holidaying buyers can relax on the beach while back at home sellers are reducing the cost of their future property by the price of the family holiday”. Shipside adds: “There needs to be a spur to cause prices to rise. However, as mortgages won’t become available to the masses and last year’s stock shortages show no sign of re-appearing, we can’t see it happening during the remainder of 2010. You don’t need to be a fortune teller to predict what cards a seller can play to find a buyer. Unless their property is a bit of a rarity, the only cards left are the ones that read ‘chop the price’ or ‘spruce up the presentation’”. Read more to top Industry news House Building: June Quarter 2010, England The latest national statistics on house building were released under the auspices of the UK Statistics Authority this week. Statistics in this release present figures on new build housing starts and completions in England. Figures for the UK and constituent countries are also available in the accompanying tables. The latest statistics report on the period April to June 2010 and update those previously released on 20th May 2010. Key points from the latest release are: There were 28,590 seasonally adjusted house building starts in England in the June quarter 2010. This is 13% higher than in the previous quarter and 84% above the trough in the March quarter 2009, but 42% below their March quarter 2007 peak; Private enterprise housing starts (seasonally adjusted) were 10% higher than in the March quarter 2010. By comparison starts by registered social landlords were 17% higher over the same period; Housing completions in England rose by 1% to an estimated 26,550 (seasonally adjusted) in the June quarter 2010 compared to the previous quarter. This is the first quarterly rise since the final quarter of 2007, and follows a 5% fall between the December 2009 and March 2010 quarters; Private enterprise housing completions (seasonally adjusted) were 1% higher in the June quarter 2010 than the March quarter 2010; completions by registered social landlords remained the same over the same period; Annual housing starts reached 98,500 in the 12 months to June 2010, up by 44% compared with the 12 months to June 2009. Annual housing completions in England totalled 110,210 in the 12 months to June 2010, down by 13% compared with the 12 months to June 2009; All regions experienced a rise in annual starts between the 12 months ending June 2009 and the 12 months ending June 2010. Read more to top RICS: Construction outlook worsens as spending cuts begin to bite Sentiment in the construction sector began to decline again in the second quarter of the year, as fears over the scale of public spending cuts and ongoing uncertainty about prospects for the economy hit the construction industry, according to the latest RICS Construction Market Survey. Despite some encouraging signs at the beginning of the year, the latest data shows 7% more surveyors reporting a fall than rise in total construction workloads. This is in comparison to the previous quarter where 5% more surveyors reported rising, rather than falling workloads. Most sectors of the construction industry experienced a drop in workloads, although private commercial and residential were both broadly unchanged. Perhaps unsurprisingly, in light of cuts to budgets, public housing and other public works were the worst affected sectors, with the net balances sliding from 3 to -26 and 0 to -33 respectively. The large fall in the public works sector has been attributed to the suspension of the Building Schools for the Future programme (BSF). Across the UK, the only regions which escaped falling workloads were the South East and London, however even here workloads only stabilised, rather than increased. Elsewhere, workloads fell, with Northern Ireland recording the worst reading; 75% more surveyors reported falling than rising workloads there, compared with a -59% reading in the first three months of the year. Just 1% of surveyors reported having problems procuring workers (down from 3% in Q1 2010) reflecting the competition among tradesman for work as construction projects diminish. Alongside this, surveyors’ future expectations for employment revealed 16% more surveyors expect employment to fall than rise over the next year, compared with -5% in the previous three months. The outlook for output and profit margins has also turned more negative. Profit margin expectations have been the most adversely affected, with 49% more surveyors expecting profits to fall rather than rise. Read more to top ONS: Output in the construction industry 2nd quarter 2010 According to the Office for National Statistics, the total volume of construction output in the second quarter of 2010 rose by 8.6% compared with the first quarter of 2010. This growth can be partly attributed to the impact of the poor weather on the previous quarter’s output. All new work rose by 9.8% and repair and maintenance rose by 6.6%. The total volume of construction output in the second quarter of 2010 rose by 9.1% compared to the same quarter in 2009. All new work increased by 14.2% and repair and maintenance increased by 1.0%. New private housing work in the second quarter of 2010 was 22% higher compared with the previous quarter and was at the same level as at the end of 2008. New private housing work was 9% higher compared with the same quarter in 2009. New work in the public housing sector in the second quarter of 2010 was 11% higher than the previous quarter and 62% higher compared with the same quarter in 2009. It was the highest output since the second quarter of 1980. Read more to top Review of house market statistics In response to user concerns expressed to the UK Statistics Authority over the coherence and comparability of official measures of the housing market the National Statistician has commissioned a review of housing market statistics. The first stage of the review will focus on the house price statistics published by Communities and Local Government and Land Registry. The National Statistician would be grateful if those who use these statistics would complete a short user questionnaire (please click here) by 31st August. The questionnaire aims to collect information on uses of and satisfaction with house price statistics produced from official sources to inform recommendations for improvements to the coherence and comparability of these measures. Findings from this part of the review will be reported to the UK Statistics Authority and made publicly available on the National Statistician's web pages before the end of the year. The second stage of the review will widen the scope to explore user needs for statistics on the housing market more generally. More details of this stage of the review will be placed on the Housing Statistics Network website in due course please click here to view. to top Housing and Planning Key Facts - August 2010 This quick reference leaflet is published quarterly and contains a snapshot of the main housing and planning data. Detailed housing and planning data may be found in the live tables. Read more to top Economic news CML: Gross mortgage lending up 5% in July Gross mortgage lending totalled an estimated £13.6bn in July, a 5% increase from £12.9bn in June but down 3% from £14bn in July 2009, according to new data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders. The new data suggests that lending remains on track to meet our new revised forecast, published earlier this month, of £140bn for the year as a whole. In this week’s market commentary, CML Economist Paul Samter commented: “It is difficult to see anything other than a slow market for the rest of this year as underlying activity remains subdued. The rest of 2010 is likely to see rather lower lending and transaction numbers compared to the same period last year. Late 2009 saw a pick up as some home buyers looked to move before the end of the first stamp duty holiday. “But for most home owners, the situation is not that bleak. The vast majority of households continue to pay their mortgages in full every month, and many have benefited from the record low interest rates. This looks set to continue for some time yet. While there are a range of risks to the outlook, low rates will further help most stay on top of their finances.” Read more to top Bank of England: Minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting The Bank of England this week published the minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting held on 4th and 5th August 2010, at which it was decided that the Bank Rate should be maintained at 0.5% and the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves maintained at £200bn. The minutes state that: “There had been a significant shift down in the path for Bank Rate implied by forward market interest rates over the past three months. That would act as a stimulus to activity. Against this, there had been a modest appreciation of sterling since the May “Inflation Report”. And credit conditions had not improved as much as previously expected. These changes in conditions needed to be factored into any decision on the stance of policy this month… “On balance, and against that background, most members thought that the current level of Bank rate and stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves remained appropriate to balance the risks to the inflation outlook in the medium term. But those risks were substantial, and these members stood ready to respond in either direction as the balance of risks evolved.” Read more to top Bank of England: Agents’ summary of business conditions The Bank’s Agents reported this month that: Business confidence across a wide range of industries had ebbed in recent months. Many contacts attributed the fall in confidence to the announcements made in the June Budget, although few contacts had changed their plans for output, investment or employment as a result; Consumer spending growth had softened over the past few months, reflecting weaker retail sales growth The number of housing market transactions had also eased back: The supply of properties coming to market had risen since the suspension of Home Information Packs in England and Wales. But demand continued to be restrained by the availability of mortgage finance and, according to some contacts, by consumers’ concerns about future job security. On balance, the Agents judged that the number of housing market transactions had fallen back over the past three months; Investment intentions remained consistent with a gradual, rather than robust, rise in spending; Exports had picked up further, driven by a pickup in world demand; Services turnover had edged higher, although volume growth in the professional and financial sector was likely stronger than growth in turnover, reflecting lower prices and fees than a year earlier; Manufacturing output growth had been robust through Q2, reflecting stronger export growth and, to a lesser extent, increases in output for the domestic market; Construction activity remained subdued. Despite a rise in repair and maintenance, commercial construction activity remained weak, and some public sector projects had been postponed or cancelled; Private sector employment intentions had risen modestly in recent months. But contacts expected offsetting cuts in public sector headcount over the next year or so. Read more to top Events New Homes Month – last chance to order your free copies of New Homes News Monday is the last day for members to register for their free copies of New Homes News, that the New Homes Marketing Board will be distributing in advance of New Homes Month. New Homes Month takes place in September and will look to promote the benefits of new build homes during the key autumn selling season. Media interest is increasing in the promotion, with the Daily Telegraph now committed to covering it and articles already appearing in the local and national press. To get involved and order your free newspapers - contact nhm2010@hbf.co.uk to top North West Social dinner – just three weeks to go. There are just three weeks to go until the return of the North West Social dinner. This event, which has not taken place for the past two years, will see hundreds of industry representatives gather in Manchester for an evening that includes a three course meal, live music and dancing. It takes place on Friday 10th September at the Midland Hotel in Manchester. Everyone is welcome at an event that attracts members from across the North and Midlands. Always a lively and fun event, regular attendees are booking keenly for what will be a fun filled industry evening. Please click here to find out more to top Housing Market Intelligence 2010 – 12th October, Savoy Place, London This year’s Housing Market Intelligence conference and annual report launch will be held on Tuesday 12th October at Savoy Place in London. Now in its eighth year, Housing Market Intelligence has become the leading strategic conference for the house building industry. This year the event is expected to sum up the new political climate nearly six months after the election, as well as providing analysis and insight into the market, the economy, the sustainability agenda, mortgages and all the key issues for house builders and associated companies. Please click here for the full agenda, to download a booking form and to book online or contact events@house-builder.co.uk to top HBF Planning Conference – 16th September 2010, Hilton Hotel, Bristol HBF’s Planning Conference this year will be looking at how the industry can ‘make localism work’’. Delegates will be considering; Will the industry be able to deliver new houses under localism? What are the new tools needed? If we are redesigning the planning system will we also be brave enough to redesign the current planning obligations process? How can we put S106 agreements back into the box now that local authorities expect so much? There will be a range of speakers from central and local government, the industry and its advisors. Please click here to see the full agenda, download a booking form and to book online or contact events@house-builder.co.uk with any questions. to top Housebuilder Awards 2010 – Early booking until 10th September – Book your table now! To see the full shortlist for this year’s Housebuilder Awards please visit www.house-builder.co.uk/awards/ Now in its sixth year - the prestigious awards bring together the best of innovation and excellence in the house building industry. The awards are the highlight of the house building calendar, celebrating the very best of the industry and recognising the achievements of those leading the way in innovation. This year the winners will be announced at a glamorous black tie event on the night of Thursday 28th October at the Millennium London Mayfair Hotel. To book your table at the Housebuilder Awards and take advantage of the early booking discount, please visit www.house-builder.co.uk/awards to top HBF Ball – Friday 10th December, London. The HBF Ball will this year take place on Friday 10th December. Traditionally the social highlight of the industry’s year it will take place at the Marriott Grosvenor Square, London. Starting with a fantastic reception, the evening includes a three course meal, live music and dancing till 2am. It’s the perfect way to start your Christmas celebrations and the ideal time to catch up with industry colleagues. We are pleased to announce that our supported charity for this year’s Ball is Habitat for Humanity For more details please click here or email events@house-builder.co.uk for a booking form. to top HBF Technical Conference, Birmingham Tuesday 9th November Date for your diary, with more details to follow. Please contact events@house-builder.co.uk with any further questions or to express an interest. to top For other HBF events visit the website For HBM events visit to top Rosie Hinchliffe View Previous Weekly News Summary
