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Councils and house builders unhappy with government housing need proposals
Councils and house builders have both raised significant concerns about government proposals for a standardised approach to calculating housing need.
The government last week closed a consultation on a draft policy which would see the same methodology for calculating local housing need applied to all council areas in England – in line with one of the major pledges in the Housing White Paper.
Local authorities have warned that the suggested system is too simplistic, while builders are concerned it will not ensure enough homes are delivered.
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Responding to the consultation, the Local Government Association said the proposed system would see some places facing “undeliverable” levels of calculated housing need, while lower targets in other areas “could put at risk plans for economic growth and renewal”.
It said the standardised calculation should be optional for local planning authorities.
London Councils, which represents all of the capital’s boroughs, echoed those concerns and said it would lead to “unrealistic and strongly varying targets”.
The Planning Officers Society said that a standard methodology would save councils “time and expense”, but that the figure which has been calculated for objectively assessed housing need (OAN) is “arbitrary”.
It added: “It appears that the government has worked back from the rate of housebuilding it believes is needed nationally.”
The new methodology would provide an overall estimate of housing need of 266,000 homes a year in England – well above the estimated 165,000 new build starts in the 12 months up to June 2017.
However, the Home Builders Federation said while it also supports a standardised methodology, the proposals represent “a very blunt approach to planning for future growth” which would keep housebuilding suppressed in areas of historically low development.
It warned that OAN should only be “the starting point” for housing requirements in local plans and voiced “a real concern” that councils with lower targets under the new system would adopt the figures straight away, while those with higher numbers would stall.
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In its submission, the British Property Federation said the proposed methodology “could seriously damage” northern cities like Leeds and Manchester by reducing their levels of assessed housing need.
A spokesperson for the Department for Communities and Local Government said: “The current approach for assessing the number of homes we need is too expensive and time-consuming.
“We want a more straightforward approach with less bureaucracy and in a way which takes better account of the demand for new homes. We’re clear this isn’t setting targets – it provides a starting point for local authorities to work from.”
