New smaller site categories could be exempt from Building Safety Levy and benefit from simplified biodiversity net gain rules

Plus, more land and financing options for SME, with Homes England releasing more of its land exclusively to SMEs, and a new National Housing Delivery Fund to be confirmed at the Spending Review to support long-term finance options.

The Small Sites Aggregator pilot in Bristol, Sheffield and the London borough of Lewisham will aim to unlock sites that would otherwise not have been developed, while attracting private investment to build new social rent homes.

In a release, the housing department said the current system makes it far too difficult for smaller builders to get spades in the ground. This is because of “a small site of 10 homes jumping through the same planning hurdles as one with 100 or more”.

Angela Rayner, deputy prime minister and housing secretary, said: “Smaller house builders must be the bedrock of our Plan for Change to build 1.5 million homes and fix the housing crisis we’ve inherited – and get working people on the housing ladder.

“For decades the status quo has failed them and it’s time to level the playing field. Today we’re taking urgent action to make the system simpler, fairer and more cost effective, so smaller house builders can play a crucial role in our journey to get Britain building.”

Smaller firms, which provide local jobs and train eight out of 10 construction apprentices, have seen their market share shrink since the 1980s, when SME builders delivered 40% of the country’s homes.

The government wants elected councillors to only focus on the most significant proposals and larger developments, rather than small-scale projects or niche technical details, so that faster decisions can be made by expert trained planners. Once a development has been agreed in principle, technical details will not keep going back and forth to committees.

Under the plans revealed today, £100m in SME Accelerator Loans will target smaller firms to grow and invest using part of the £700m extension to the Home Building Fund announced in December.

There is a total of £10m for councils to fund more specialists to speed up environmental assessments, and a £1.2m PropTech Innovation Fund to support innovation in small site delivery.

These latest plans follow news over the weekend that developers that fail to build out sites in an agreed timeframe may face penalty charges.

A new planning reform working paper, published on Sunday, included proposals to give councils new powers to keep house builders “on track” to “ensure they play their part” to deliver the government’s target of 1.5 million homes this parliament.