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What county areas need from the next government when it comes to housing
The County Councils Network’s new report demands a step change for housing and infrastructure delivery in the county areas, writes Wiltshire Council leader Richard Clewer
Cllr Richard Clewer is the Conservative leader of Wiltshire Council
Within the next 12 months we will have a general election, and as election battlegrounds go, housing is likely to get a strong airing on the campaign trail. Once the new government is in place, it will be the fourth in a row to inherit a worsening housing affordability crisis.
Over the past decade, successive governments have tried to tackle the challenge of housing and infrastructure delivery through reforming the planning system. Over the last parliament this has accelerated and in the past three-and-a-half years alone, we’ve seen six substantive reforms put forward.
But as plentiful as the proposals have been, it has become more difficult for people to own their own home. We know this is true of London and the major cities, but as the County Councils Network’s (CCN) new report reveals, it is also true of England’s county and rural areas – typically viewed as the traditional areas of homeownership.
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The report finds that counties have the most unaffordable properties in England outside of London, and average house prices are now 11 times the typical average salary, despite strong wage growth over the past few years.
Consequently, the nature of housing tenure in county and rural areas has changed over the past decade: the number of households renting has increased by 19%, faster than any other part of the country. The majority of these private renters who have been locked out of homeownership.
The knock-on effects of this are numerous: increasing rents and creating extra ‘front door’ demand for councils, particularly in council house waiting lists and in temporary accommodation, where costs are becoming increasingly exorbitant.
“It is imperative that the next administration sets out a long-term plan for housing, moving away from tinkering around the edges of the system”
It is clear there are deep-seated issues with the housing system, and piecemeal reform has failed to truly address them. We’re calling for a change of tack from the next government. It is imperative that the next administration sets out a long-term plan for housing, moving away from tinkering around the edges of the system.
First, dialogue is necessary to the success or otherwise of any long-term plan. There has long been the sense that planning reform is done to councils rather than with them. Local authorities are the ones at the business end of the planning system, having overseen the delivery of over 1.1 million homes in the past five years (with 606,000 of these in county areas alone).
The next government must consult with us clearly and together we can use our collective local and national experience to create proposals that are effective and workable. Of course, there is no silver bullet for any long-term plan either, with the housing challenge so long-standing and the challenges so complex. The CCN’s report Housing in Counties recognises this and sets out a series of recommendations.
Chief among them is the need to increase housing of all tenures. The focus over the past decade on three and four-bed houses is laudable, and policies such as Starter Homes have helped people take their first steps onto the housing ladder. But for county areas, local need is more diverse.
Increasing the number of smaller houses, flats, those for social rent, and affordable homes will allow for greater choice in local housing markets, meaning people on different incomes can achieve homeownership. Government should encourage – and enable – this through the National Planning Policy Framework.
As part of a reformed local plan process, the government should give planning authorities autonomy to set their own thresholds and the types of affordable housing needed in their areas. Linked to this, there should be a review of the effectiveness of policies such as Right to Buy and First Homes, especially in the areas where there is a clear need for social and affordable homes. Both encourage homeownership yet dilute the number of affordable and social rent properties in areas.
“The government should give planning authorities autonomy to set their own thresholds and the types of affordable housing needed in their areas”
Ministers should also look at ways of increasing retirement communities and homes for older people – an issue that will become more pertinent in the county areas which are forecast to see the largest increases in elderly people.
Equally, increasing housing delivery – and diversifying housing tenure – does not equate to concreting over the countryside. Local authorities are best placed to identify the right locations for the right homes, backed by comprehensive infrastructure. To that end, we’re calling on the government to mandate the return of strategic planning, with county councils given a formal role in two-tier areas. This would bring together all councils in a given area to set out what infrastructure is required, alongside more effective ways to pool together resource.
Underpinning all of this should be an increase in resource to over-stretched planning departments within councils. These are only some of the important and logical recommendations within the CCN’s new report. Taken together, they can usher in a step change for housing and infrastructure delivery – and affordability – in county areas.
The planning system has been in a state of flux for too long. It is time the government of the day stopped tinkering around the edges and instead put forward a plan for the long term.
Richard Clewer, housing and planning spokesperson, County Councils Network
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