It's quick and easy to register for a member account
Register
Already have an account?
Login here
Download a copy of the 2025 HBF mayor manifesto
The home building industry is on the front line of tackling the housing crisis. As well as delivering the much-needed new homes that are required to help younger generations realise their home ownership aspirations, it provides around half of all new Affordable Housing every year. Beyond housing delivery, the industry is also a vital engine of the UK economy and plays a significant role in supporting communities across the country.
However, the industry is currently facing a range of barriers that are holding back delivery and causing output to decline. These include delays in the planning process, a lack of bids for Section 106 Affordable Housing units from Registered Providers, and insufficient government support for first-time buyers.
The Government’s ‘devolution revolution’ presents a unique opportunity for combined authority mayors to support the industry and boost housing delivery at this critical time, with mayors set to gain greater powers through the English Devolution Bill and the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.
The revival of strategic planning sits at the heart of this devolution agenda. Mayors will receive the power to prepare a Spatial Development Strategy (SDS), which will share out housing allocations among constituent local authorities based on an agreed pattern of distribution, ensuring that the housing needs of each combined authority area are delivered in full. This strategic approach will also allow mayors to better coordinate housing development with skills, transport, and environmental goals.
The Home Builders Federation (HBF) is calling on the new Mayors of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Hull and East Yorkshire, Greater Lincolnshire and the West of England to seize the opportunities of devolution and take bold action to increase housing supply. This manifesto sets out 10 recommendations for the new mayors which would support the industry, unlock economic growth, and help more people across the country find a home of their own.
The Government will require all strategic authorities to prepare a Spatial Development Strategy (SDS) through the forthcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill. Rather than waiting for this Bill to become law, the Mayors should begin preparing an SDS immediately to ensure it is ready for adoption as soon as possible. SDSs should enable the full housing need for the Combined Authority area to be accommodated in full.
Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) should not delay the development of local plans while they await the adoption of an SDS. Ongoing reviews and updates of Local Plans should continue in parallel with SDS development.
We would encourage the Mayors to collaborate closely with local planning teams to avoid unnecessary delays. There should also be a clear commitment to monitor the pace of local plan production across all boroughs. In anticipation of the new powers and responsibilities that the Mayors will have for strategic planning once the Planning and Infrastructure Bill secures Royal Assent, in instances of significant underperformance in housing delivery, the Mayors should take action by agreeing on specific improvement plans and, if necessary, consider calling in applications for determination.
As well as producing an SDS, the Mayors should deploy their other powers (and powers they will receive through forthcoming legislation) strategically to boost house building in their areas:
We encourage the Mayors to establish a panel for house builders operating across the Combined Authority area. This would allow house builders to meet regularly with the local Mayor and the Combined Authority to discuss policy and practice, as well as to provide feedback on the market and identify and resolve problems. The Panel would help shape policy and investment decisions.
Improving housing delivery by increasing the number of developments on small sites must be a strategic priority for the Mayors. This should include setting an ambitious housing target for small sites for each planning authority. National policy requires sites of one hectare or less to be identified and ideally allocated in local plans to provide for 10% of the overall housing requirement. The Mayors should work with local authorities to ensure the policy requirement to allocate land for small sites receives sufficient priority in plan-making and planning decisions.
As part of the SDS, the Mayors could stipulate that areas that enjoy good public transport connections are highly appropriate for small residential schemes. The Mayors should also encourage the constituent local authorities to reflect this principle in local plans by allocating sites in these locations. These new homes would have a number of benefits, including cutting commuting times, encouraging environmentally friendly forms of transport, and supporting SME home builders.
Owing to a perfect storm of cost pressures and regulatory challenges, the majority of Registered Providers (RPs) are currently unable to make offers to home builders to acquire Section 106 Affordable Housing from developer-led schemes. This is delaying the delivery of new homes of all tenures because home builders are unable to proceed and commence building unless they have a legal agreement with an RP to acquire the Affordable Homes.
The Mayors should encourage the constituent local authorities to allow greater flexibility on the tenure mix of Affordable Housing to ensure that preferred policy requirements do not hold up delivery. The Mayors should also encourage planning authorities to accept the use of cascade mechanisms within Section 106 agreements where it can be clearly demonstrated by the applicant that there is a lack of RP interest. This would allow homes earmarked for Affordable Housing to be provided as other products (including alternative types of Affordable Housing).
In preparing the SDS, the Mayors should ensure that if there is a policy for Affordable Housing that will apply across the Combined Authority area, the policy should be worded so that it is sufficiently flexible to allow for a range of Affordable Housing tenures to be provided. This would prevent the policy from becoming an obstacle to delivery.
We encourage the Mayors to prepare a Local Nature Recovery Strategy. This would enable the Mayors to identify areas and actions that would assist in progressing environmental goals, including enabling house builders to meet Biodiversity Net Gain requirements off-site if this is not feasible on-site.
The preparation of a Local Nature Recovery Strategy would also help to support the objectives of the SDS.
HBF has supported an increased focus on public transport by the mayors of combined authorities since this will help to open up parts of the authority area that might have previously been overlooked by buyers, renters and investors. For instance, areas in need of regeneration that might have been avoided in the past because they were too inaccessible to places of employment or lacked amenities will become more attractive for investment where there is a regular, reliable and affordable public transport option. Good public transport also enables young people to access work, training and education. Therefore, if the Mayors do adopt a Mayoral Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), funds should be prioritised for public transport.
Every mayoral combined authority has a degree of control over adult education and skills training and funding. The Mayors’ local skills plans should focus explicitly on the local economic and labour market needs of construction skills and be based on rigorous data relating to the requirements of employers, including small- and medium-sized companies.
Colleges should be encouraged to understand and train for the local labour market/employment opportunities, with skills provision and the content of courses reflecting the needs of the labour market rather than what the Further Education college leaders consider to be viable. The Mayors should use their convening power to provide links between local house builders, colleges and training providers.
Water scarcity is a critical issue in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough area. The Environment Agency has objected to residential schemes because it doubts the ability of water companies to serve these developments, delaying thousands of homes. Resolution of this issue in the longer term relies on the construction of two new reservoirs in Lincolnshire and Fenland, although this is unlikely to be completed until the late 2030s.
The Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough should use their convening power to set up an action group on water scarcity, bringing together key stakeholders including house builders, Cambridge Water, Anglian Water, local authorities and the Environment Agency to ensure that new development is not subject to unforeseen delays. The Mayor should also continue to push the Government to ensure water companies continue to plan and invest effectively, as they are required to do by legislation, to meet current and future development needs.
Download a copy of the West of England Mayor Manifesto
Download a copy of the Greater Lincolnshire Mayor Manifesto
Download a copy of the Hull and East Yorkshire Mayor Manifesto
Download a copy of the Cambridge and Peterborough Mayor Manifesto
