Housing Minister Grant Shapps has welcomed the appointment of Sir John Harman to a key group looking at reducing the complexity of home building standards and the impact regulations have on the industry, while this work will support the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) due to be published early in 2012.
Sir John, a former Environment Agency chairman, will now run a new steering group, established jointly by the Home Builders Federation and the Local Government Group, to oversee work to ‘simplify, harmonise and declutter’ the ‘minefield’ of building standards applied to new housing.
The group will also provide advice to councils and developers on the best way to conduct plan level viability studies in a bid to ensure housing development is not blocked by unrealistic expectations or policies.
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