A letter to Chief Planning officers in England highlights recent issues including the budget announcements affecting planning, planning statistics and planning guidance review including changes to listed building consent and village green designations.
With regard to the recent Budget the letter notes:
‘The measures to promote custom build have the potential to increase the capacity and diversity of the house building industry and support the growing number of people who want to build their own home. A key constraint is the difficulty many custom builders experience in finding a suitable plot. The measures included in the Budget are designed to address this challenge:
- We will consult on a new ‘Right to Build’ which would give custom builders a right to a plot from councils. This proposal recognises the significant role that councils can – and in some cases already are – playing in securing land for custom build. Land for plots could come from local authorities’ own landholdings or other land, with councils playing a facilitating role.
- We will seek to identify a number of councils to act as vanguards to test how the Right to Build model could work in practice.
- We will also create a new £150m fund to provide loans to support the delivery of up-to 10,000 serviced plots for custom builders.
