“Let’s get Britain building” was the battle cry of the Housing White Paper. That means everyone’s going to be building. You, us, that bloke who lives down the road… maybe.
If you missed the Housing White Paper, or forgot to read it, BOB – the Jewson monthly newsletter – is here to summarise the key points.
The tide is high (rise)
Where there’s a shortage of land, or places well-served by public transport, councils and developers will be encouraged to build higher (and hiiigher!).
We’ll be living in the fast lane
Well, ish. Once permission is granted, developers can start building in 2 years instead of 3.
The little guy could win big
As it turns out, 60% of new houses are built by just 10 companies. That’s inspired the Government to look out for the little guy and support small, independent builders too by using the £3bn Homebuilding Fund introduced at the Conservative Party Conference.
We’ll get a bit ‘Changing Rooms’
At the moment there are more than 200,000 empty properties in the UK. The White Paper states that it’s important to make “efficient use of existing stock” (which doesn’t mean cutting Oxo Cubes in half). There will be the same financial rewards for renovating empty homes as building new homes with the New Homes Bonus.
Brown beats green, every time
The focus for homebuilding will be on brownfield land and neglected areas of town centres. Green belts will only be altered if absolutely necessary.
