CHC sets out campaign for Welsh national development corporation ahead of Senedd elections

On planning, CHC urged politicians to “legislate for a presumption in favour of development”, and to implement and enforce statutory deadlines for statutory consultees.

CHC also proposed that an NDC could:

• Empower Welsh SMEs and housing associations by sub-dividing large sites into smaller plots, to allow them to start building immediately without the risk of upfront infrastructure costs
• Encourage and support modern methods of construction on sites, giving Welsh modular factories an “order book” to scale up and hire locally
• Map and monitor the capacity of contractors and the construction supply chain, and take targeted action to stabilise the sector

The trade body also called on the next government to break “environmental deadlock” by providing emergency funding and developer exemptions to unlock the 2,000 homes currently stalled by river nutrient restrictions.

The CHC said at the end of last month that nearly 2,000 social and affordable homes were still delayed as a result of marine nitrate guidance brought in last year by Natural Resources Wales.

Rhea Stevens, head of policy and external affairs at CHC, said that the government’s taskforce to tackle this issue had delivered “a number of practical tools to support local planning authorities and developers to navigate the ongoing impact” of the guidance.

“Housing associations are working alongside partners to implement these tools at pace, in the hope they unlock the much-needed confidence to enable these much-needed homes to proceed,” she added.

In a campaign launched last year, CHC called on the next Welsh government to target 60,000 additional affordable homes over the next decade.

The election in Wales will take place on 7 May and will elect 96 members to the Senedd.

The member body’s proposals for an NDC were developed during a roundtable series including housing associations and a range of partners in the development sector.