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Planning in 2023

03/01/2023

2023 will see the UK taking some major steps forward with planning policy reform. The UK government has announced measures to place local communities at the heart of the planning system as part of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill. The measures aim to build the right homes in the right places with the right infrastructure, ensuring the environment is protected and giving local people a greater say on where new development should be placed.

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The Housing Delivery Test

23/04/2019

The Housing Delivery Test was published earlier this year showing that 33% of Councils are under delivering with their housing supply.

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) set out a timeframe for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to publish the results of the UK’s first Housing Delivery Test in November 2018, then every November yearly after.

The Housing Delivery Test takes into account the number of homes required within the Councils control from the period of 2015-2018 and compares this to the number of homes delivered over that period. In order for a Council to pass the delivery test they must deliver 95% of the assessed need. The Councils that delivered 85-95% must then produce an action plan in accordance with national planning guidance to establish why they are under delivering and how they plan to address this. Councils that only delivered 25-85% of their housing need must identify a buffer of 20% more land to show they will achieve the set out housing.

Although 77% of Councils demonstrated they had delivered their housing need for the period 2015-2018 they still have a potential problem with their five year housing supply and delivering the homes the UK so desperately needs.

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UK Construction Output

15/04/2019

The latest measures of output by the construction industry was released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) this month. Construction output increased by 0.4% in the month-on-month all work series in February 2019. In the month-on-month series, there was a 1.1% increase in all new work, while all repair and maintenance fell by 1.0% in February 2019.

Read the full report here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/constructionindustry/bulletins/constructionoutputingreatbritain/february2019

Image: ONS

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The Future of House Building

12/04/2019

With the housing numbers within the UK not being met is there a new quicker method of building housing. The UK could be entering a new era of prefab or ‘modular construction’ house building.

Modular construction has some controversy surrounding it though with one side arguing that it produces a lower quality product whilst the other promises higher standards than traditional methods claiming they will be more energy efficient. One thing is for certain with a modular home building factory announced last month in Cheshire aiming to produce 2,000 homes a year we will see modular homes across the UK.

Modern construction methods shouldn’t be discounted from the house building process but they should be incorporated with proven traditional methods to ensure the UK’s home maintain the high standards we have become accustomed to. The industry should strive to continually innovate from the design stage right through to construction and ultimately completion.

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