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Nimbys ‘unlikely to be swayed by cash for new homes’
Families who oppose new homes in their area are unlikely to be swayed by a cash payment, government-commissioned research has revealed.
The research was carried out two years ago by academics at the University of Sheffield, but has only just been published by the Department for Communities and Local Government.
In the 2014 Budget the government announced it would launch a pilot to pass a share of the profits from development directly to households to try and encourage communities to drop their opposition to new housing.
However, the research commissioned off the back of this announcement revealed the policy was unpopular both with households that oppose new homes and housing professionals.
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The academics interviewed 109 households who would be likely to oppose development across six council areas and 22 housing professionals over a six-week period in 2014.
The overwhelming majority – 84% – said a cash payment would not influence their views on housing development or their likelihood to directly oppose it. Only 6% said a payment would reduce their opposition.
There was “strong principled resistance” to the idea of a cash payment among many households, with 46% associating a payment with a bribe.
There were also concerns that such payments could lead to a reduced developer financial contribution, especially as pressure on infrastructure and services was often the main reason for opposition to housing development.
More than a third of respondents said that they might be less opposed to new development if they could have more of a say over development, or if there was extra money for infrastructure and services, particularly schools and healthcare.
The housing professionals also largely opposed the idea. There was no “significant support” for direct financial payments from any of the key professionals interviewed.
These professionals said cash payments might “undermine trust in local planning processes”. There was a feeling that payments could be “divisive” and “weaken community cohesion”.
The households interviewed were mostly owner occupiers, and 72% were aged 50 or over. Only 26% of interviewees had a household income above £50,000.
