The announcements in the Budget about stamp duty changes to benefit first-time buyers and the funding boost for new homes and construction projects [http://talkingpropertylaw.gateleyplc.com/2017/11/27/budget-heres-need-know/] are examples of the Government’s commitment to ‘fix’ the housing market.
To help achieve the aim of more homes in the right places, it has announced a package of measures:
- £15.3 billion of new financial support for housing over the next five years
- introducing planning reforms to ensure more land is available for housing
- providing £204 million of funding for innovation and skills in the construction sector.
Planning reforms
The Budget builds on the reforms announced in the Housing White Paper [http://talkingpropertylaw.gateleyplc.com/2017/02/15/housing-white-paper-implications-housebuilders/]. The Government commits to consult on a range of planning reforms including:
- a new policy that local authorities will be expected to permission land outside their plan on the condition that a high proportion of the homes are offered for discounted sale for first-time buyers or for affordable rent (this will exclude land in the Green Belt)
- minimum densities for housing development in city centres and around transport hubs, with greater support for the use of compulsory purchase powers for site assembly
- a permitted development right to allow commercial buildings to be demolished and replaced with homes
- the promised review of CIL, including giving Combined Authorities and planning joint committees with statutory plan-making functions the option to levy a Strategic Infrastructure Tariff in future, in the same way that the London Mayoral CIL is providing funding towards Crossrail. This Tariff would be additional to CIL.
