There is no need to concrete over the countryside, say town hall chiefs
A “bumper backlog” of almost 30,000 new homes is in the pipeline in the West, town hall chiefs have revealed.
They say the figure means the Government does not need to concrete over the countryside, or force through a planning free-for-all.
The Western Daily Press reported earlier this month how Ministers are to change the rules on the Green Belt to allow homes to be built, to try to stimulate the economy.
But the Local Government Association, representing councils, which could be stripped of their powers to decide planning applications, says the drastic moves are not necessary. They have revealed nearly 400,000 homes across England and Wales have got planning permission, but are yet to be completed.
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More than 140,000 have not even been started. They include nearly 11,000 properties across the region where work has not begun, with more than 1,800 in Wiltshire, 1,500 in Bristol and 700 in Gloucester.
Meanwhile more than 18,000 houses have yet to be completed across the West.
The (LGA) believes the “bumper backlog” should “lay to rest the myth” that a cumbersome, outdated planning system must be ripped up. Its Conservative chairman, Sir Merrick Cockell, said: “These figures conclusively prove that local authorities are overwhelmingly saying ‘yes’ to new development.
“Even if planning departments did not receive another new home application for the next three years, there are sufficient approved developments ready to go to last until 2016, at the current rate of construction.”
Sir Merrick urged Ministers to relax the strict restrictions on council borrowing, to pay for new homes and to bring unusable properties back into use. He said councils are more positive towards development than ever, with the percentage of applications approved hitting a ten-year high.
And the time taken by developers to complete work on site has increased by several months, with the longest taking almost nine years from getting permission to building the homes.
David Cameron last week unveiled a planning shake-up that included allowing single-storey extensions to be built without planning permission.
It relaxed the requirement on developers to include a proportion of affordable homes in their schemes, and will remove planning powers from local councils that Ministers believe are guilty of poor-quality, or slow, decision-making.
And proposals are expected on developments on the Green Belt, including 106,000 hectares in the West, such as between Bristol and Bath, Cheltenham and Gloucester, and in Dorset.
The Campaign to Protect Rural England says there is enough previously developed or brownfield land in England to build 1.5 million new homes.
The CPRE says threats to the West’s precious Green Belt range include plans for thousands of new homes, park-and-ride schemes, link roads and a line of 50 metre high pylons.
Comments
by Owlowl
Wednesday, September 12 2012, 8:05AM
“and what will happen to these homes? brought up by prospective landlords to rent out to students.......”
by bath1946
Wednesday, September 12 2012, 7:36AM
“I thought that as from April of this year Councils were allowed to borrow for housing from the Treasury at 0.2% above the rates for gilts but this was in exchange for dropping the housing revenue support system, ie it only applies to councils with a housing stock ?”
by rogerh3
Wednesday, September 12 2012, 12:07AM
“Dogma dictates that councils can't borrow to build houses so more people have to rent in the private sector which increases housing benefit payments (most of which goes to those in work or retired) which pushes up government debt prompting cutbacks in housing support which leads to more homeless which adds to council expenditure.”
by MoeXXX
Tuesday, September 11 2012, 11:58PM
“Hmm. So, when everyone thought no-one was building anything because no-one had any money, but the government claimed it was because of red-tape, it turns out everyone was right and the government was, erm, lying. Again. Ho hum.”
by bath1946
Tuesday, September 11 2012, 4:23PM
“Who has referred to the right to own a home ? I wrote about the state providing grants (reinstating the £5bns it cut) for social housing ie rented accommodation as well as RBS concentrating on the provision of mortgages.
I consider that not only is the provision of homes a priority given that more than 12,000 are on the homeless register in BANES alone, but with youth unemployment running at 22% building homes satisfies two social needs as well as the boost to the economy.
Last year 102,000 homes were completed which was the lowest in peacetime Britain since 1923 but with borrowing costs below the rate of inflation, and with no finance available to buy what incentive is there for private developers to build ?”
by mcupis
Tuesday, September 11 2012, 2:24PM
“There is a big difference between homes available to live in everybody owning a house. Everybody should have the right to a roof over their heads. Nobody has the right to own a house.”
by bath1946
Tuesday, September 11 2012, 1:51PM
“The number of potential housing is irrelevant. With prices up to eleven times average income, there is no finance available to afford a house which is why i favour state granted social housing and RBS becoming a bank specialising in mortgages. The housing situation is critical.”