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Now that the dust has settled on Gordon Brown's budget, the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) today insisted that the development and implementation of planning and housing initiatives must involve consultation with SMEs and represent their interests, especially those concerning regional planning and planning obligations.
FMB director of external relations, Andrew Large stated:
"The FMB will be pushing hard to be involved at the earliest possible stage in discussions to ensure that the views of small firms are heard on the proposed Government 'task forces'. Both Kate Barker's review of housing supply and Sir John Egan's development of a skills and training strategy will address issues that are fundamental to the construction industry. Given the overwhelming number of SMEs in the house building and renovation market, it is vital that small and medium sized building contractors are fully involved in these projects."
The FMB has identified a number issues that it feels discriminate against the smaller builder and would like to see discussed at Government level.
Large continued:
"The planning process at a regional rather than local level excludes many localised, smaller building firms from not only hearing about future projects, but also from participating in the tender process. Regional planning plays into the hands of the larger construction players who operate nationally or regionally at the exclusion of smaller operators. This is clearly unfair."
The FMB is calling for the following:
- All enforcement of planning decisions must be clear and consistent. Enforcement processes must be fair and impartial and give all parties, including builders, an opportunity to state their case..
- A portion of any large development site is set aside for self-build to give choice to the individual consumer and ensure that local construction firms can contribute to the local economy, especially through job creation. 'Master Planning' goes hand in hand with regional planning and encourages the practice of 'bundling up' building work in large projects which are put out to tender to the larger construction and housing players to the exclusion of smaller, local companies.
- Planning obligations must be open to public scrutiny and be clear at the outset as smaller firms often waste time and money submitting tenders based on the initial information given because they do not have the full facts nor are they made fully aware of all of the planning obligations. Greater transparency means that building SMEs will learn about forthcoming projects and exactly what is involved at an earlier stage and will be able to tender.
Summing up the initiatives, Andrew Large said:
"The FMB looks forward to participating positively in these reviews and to ensuring that the planning system gives small and medium sized building contractors a fair deal."
First posted: 17 April 2003. Last modified: 17 April 2003.
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