Sam Stafford's Blog

The first impression of confirmation that the ten AGMA authorities are to develop the nascent spatial framework (GMSF) for identifying future housing and land requirements into a statutory joint Development Plan Document (DPD) was a positive one. The replacement of regional planning by the current Government with a wishy-washy 'duty-to-co-operate' was to the detriment of strategic plan-making, and Greater Manchester, functioning as it does as a single spatial entity, will manifestly benefit from more coordinated planning. On reflection though, one starts to wonder about the ability of the ten LPAs to get local plans in place whilst the GMSF process is ongoing. Although the consultation document states that "no weight should be attached to the intention to produce the GMSF or the initial evidence that is the subject of this consultation", it is also stated that "the objectively assessed needs or requirements for individual districts will be a key outp...

"Are 'speculative developers' the new bankers?" I asked in this previous piece . Well there is mounting evidence that they might be because, fresh from an assault on wealth and 'irresponsible' business at the Labour party conference Ed Miliband used a party political broadcast to attack "the power of the big developers" on the basis that "they’re sitting on hundreds of thousands of places for homes with planning permission and not building because they’re waiting for it to accumulate in value."   The HBF, amongst others, ( here ) have highlighted the three independent studies in the last decade that have all concluded that house builders do not land bank. Why would they?   If land has been purchased with a planning permission in place then the housebuilder will want to start selling homes as soon as possible;  If planning permission is granted on land promoted by a housebuilder under option from a landowner then that typically ...

Steve Morgan, Chairman of Redrow, spoke to BBC Radio 4's Today programme yesterday (from 1h19m here ) about the company's record results . When asked why the company was not building more homes Mr Morgan (who has not been shy about sharing his views on the planning system in the past ...) highlighted the 'challenge' of getting from an outline permission to an implementable permission. This reminded me of the current ' technical consultation on planning ', which includes the introduction of "deemed discharge" for planning conditions where an LPA has not made a decision within a reasonable time period. Whilst described as a ' nuclear option ' when first mooted back in January, this is actually quite a sensible way of reminding LPAs that the issuing of a decision notice does not constitute the end of the application process. Given though the work required between the granting of an outline consent and work starting on site, the deemed disch...

GVA’s latest Development Outlook report notes that, helped by the strengthening economy and government initiatives, there has been a surge in development activity over the last twelve months, with new private sector residential construction orders increasing by over 30%. The 138,441 starts on new homes across the UK is the highest since 2007, but remains well below the 265,000 new households that are forming each year and even further below the 300,000 required if the historic backlog is taken into account. So why are we not a nation of house builders? What is preventing us from adequately housing ourselves? Let’s get the big one out of the way first. We are a nation of Nimbies. The British Social Attitudes Survey suggests that opposition to new homes fell between 2010 and 2013, but there is still a discrepancy between the recognition that new homes are needed nationally and the support for new house building locally. The loudest voices at planning committees are the people wh...