Every year, the Government uses the Queen’s Speech to set out its plan of action for the year ahead. Of particular interest to FMB members is the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, which will affect the work of small and micro house builders.
The FMB are campaigning to reverse the decline in SME house building, lobbying for changes which offer a smoother planning process and better site availability. Although the bill is not quite the fully-fledged planning reforms we expected, it still matters. Ultimately, we will judge it by the extent to which it improves the lives and work of small, local builders. We’ve broken down what we know so far.
Community engagement
The Government has made clear that it wants more community engagement. While their exact plans haven’t been fully fleshed out, the intention is to include the public more in the planning process, whether that be through greater transparency or allowing the public to have more say on what happens on their street or local area.
We understand that development is a complex issue and that the public may not always be best placed to drive development opportunities. We’ve all been to town hall type meetings and observed the tendency for the loudest voices to win out over that of the moderate ones.
We have urged Government to ensure it doesn’t further overcomplicate the planning process through this ambition. SME housebuilders already sit at the heart of their communities, delivering projects reflective of their local areas. Small builders already know how important communication is.
Local plans
As part of the push for greater community engagement, the Government wants to put local people in a stronger position when it comes to setting local plans. They have also announced they want to ensure that these plans are developed more quickly – which is positive step.
But we’ve made clear the best people to fully engage in local plans are small, local builders. This will help to identify small sites and opportunity areas. Many FMB members already spend time looking over local maps for these opportunities, so are well placed to help local authorities develop these plans.
Digitisation
The Government has announced plans to digitise the planning process, which we hope will allow clarity on development status for builders and residents alike. There are also proposals to make who owns land more transparent, which is a good move.
We have campaigned for a quicker more transparent planning process as 61% of FMB members surveyed in the FMB's 2021 House Builders' Survey find the system a burden to delivering homes. Digitisation is a key part of this process and should enable better tracking of a project through the planning system.
Street votes
You may have seen a lot in the media about ‘street votes’, with many reports saying neighbours could veto projects and developments, but thankfully this isn’t the case. What it could do is allow for fast tracked planning permission for certain projects identified by the residents of a street, through public votes which could boost the density of current housing stock and potentially deliver more homes. But we will be pushing the Government for more detail.
Planning fees
Planning fees are being increased. This is a measure that we have been calling for to improve the capacity of local planning teams. Fees will be increased by 35% for major applications and 25% for minor applications. Government has said that increasing fees must lead to a better service for applicants.
Infrastructure Levy
The long-awaited change to CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) and Section 106 payments has been announced. The introduction of a single new levy should make the process easier and simpler. This fee will be decided by the local authority to reflect the needs of the area and will be non-negotiable.
The Levy will be charged on the value of property when it is sold and applied above a minimum threshold, which has yet to be announced. We’ll be asking Government to ensure that the fees are scaled appropriately to ensure developments are not made unviable and exemptions are in place for smaller developments.
What next?
The FMB will be following the Levelling up and Regeneration Bill very closely as it moves through Parliament to ensure our members voices are well represented. This has an opportunity to deliver a simplified planning system for builders and we want to make sure that happens.
