Feb 7 2006
Local authorities across Britain should identify up to two acres of land in every rural town and village exclusively for building new first-time buyer homes, says Barratt, Britain’s leading housebuilder.
The move could produce at least 10,000 starter houses and flats within three years, making a massive impact on the rural housing crisis and re-invigorating fading country communities, said Barratt Group Chief Executive David Pretty.
“Almost everyone is agreed – the Government, local councils, conservationists, environmentalists, housebuilders and most commentators - that there is a rural housing crisis which is preventing local first-time buyers getting onto the home ownership ladder and, as a result, is contributing to the slow death of too many rural communities. This is a practical answer to a very real problem,” he said.
Mr Pretty believes that most villages and towns have land within their Local Plans which could easily be identified and designated for affordable first-time buyer homes, such as one and two-bedroom houses and flats.
“Some may be redundant agricultural or industrial land, some may just be unused and in a suitable location. Some may be redundant council land, like old depots or yards, and some may be privately-owned, perhaps neglected or unsightly. If such land can be identified as suitable, it should be acquired for a fair market price – using compulsory purchase powers if necessary – then designated for first-time buyer housing and fast-tracked through planning,” said Mr Pretty.
“A site or small group of sites up to two acres could put around 35 to 40 starter homes in every town and village in rural Britain. These would be enough to give local young people and key workers who need to live in the area a start on the housing ladder, yet this would not put the general infrastructure under strain as would undoubtedly be the case with larger-scale development.”
If planning applications for these sites were then fast-tracked through the planning system, as Mr Pretty has already suggested, the proposal could result in over 10,000 new country starter homes – equivalent to over half the current annual output of affordable housing by Britain’s housing association movement.
He said the resulting new homes could be marketed in a number of ways – either through standard housing association low-cost home ownership schemes, through direct or discounted sales from housebuilders, or even via new kinds of partnerships with local authorities or rural bodies. The important thing, he said, was producing rural homes at affordable first-time prices.
“For rural communities to survive, they need sustainable economies, and new people coming into home ownership in our country towns and villages are crucial to that” said Mr Pretty, a leading figure in housebuilding for over 25 years and a member of the Government’s Sustainable Buildings Steering Group.
“By designing them to fit in with the culture and atmosphere of local communities, the new homes would be welcomed. And by incorporating the latest design and eco-standards, this new rural housing drive could also be one of Britain’s first really large-scale sustainable building programmes. The possibilities are tremendous” he said.
David Pretty’s rural housing plan is part of an 18-point programme of suggested reforms recently presented to the Government, calling for more protection for core Green Belt areas, more brownfield development and the fast-tracking of brownfield planning applications.
Suggestions also include expansion of the definition of ‘affordable’ housing to enable builders to sell at substantial discounts to young buyers and key workers, increasing the Government’s existing national ‘brownfield’ targets, as well as sweeping improvements to the planning system.
Mr Pretty said: “The Government is calling for more homes, more social housing, more urban regeneration, more training, more innovation and better design – and we at Barratt are delivering on all of those fronts year after year. But the industry as a whole could do so much more if the consistent obstacles to building more homes were cleared away and the planning system overhauled. There is no shortage of Government commitment and awareness of what needs to be done and I am encouraged by the genuine political will to make improvements.
He added: “The stark reality is that our national housing problem is getting worse, not just in towns and cities but in the countryside as well. My rural housing proposal is quite simple and straightforward, so it doesn’t require a seismic shift. However, with decisive action, it could make a big difference in a relatively short time. We really do need to get on with the job.”