Funding solutions to help unlock development sites across the country will be considered by a newly created government unit.
The New Homes Accelerator, announced by deputy prime minister Angela Rayner today, will work with housing and regeneration agency Homes England and councils to “leverage” public resources and reduce delays on about 200 sites, as well as to unblock planning delays.
Civil servants will bring together homebuilders, local planning departments and government agencies to resolve specific issues standing in the way of development.
The government said: “This may involve brokering agreements between stakeholders or providing additional expert capacity and resource to local planning authorities.
“Where funding is an issue, for example, to support key local infrastructure, we will bring together relevant local and central government stakeholders to unlock funds where possible.”
An initial government analysis identified 200 sites with outline or detailed planning permission where construction work had yet to start. These could provide up to 300,000 homes – the number the government needs to deliver each year to hit its target of building 1.5 million homes over the next five years.
In her first speech as chancellor, Rachel Reeves said she would prioritise unblocking four sites that could deliver up to 14,000 homes: Liverpool Central Docks, Worcester Parkway and Langley Sutton Coldfield.
When asked about these schemes by Construction News, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said they were “already progressing” but did not explain further.
According to a job advert posted by the government for a policy lead in the new unit, the team will first seek to understand what the hold-ups are.
Its members will start by “developing our evidence base on sites that are stalled and developing metrics for determining how sites should be prioritised, and working with relevant policy teams and Homes England to develop a suite of interventions”.
The taskforce will also look at three more developments that the government has said have the potential to provide 10,000 homes: Stretton Hall, Leicestershire; Tendring, Essex; and Biggleswade Garden Community, Bedfordshire.
Over the coming months, it will aim to intervene not only regarding sites already overseen by Homes England and the Greater London Authority, but also schemes currently outside of the remit of those organisations.
Homebuilders, local authorities and landowners have been asked to inform the government of sites with significant planning issues.
Home Builders Federation executive director David O’Leary welcomed the “pragmatic approach to planning”, which he said would “increase the pace at which new homes are built and help to turn around ailing housing supply”.
Vistry chief executive Stephen Teagle said the taskforce “shows the government is listening to both our industry and the millions of people who are unable to access a decent, permanent home”.
He added: “Delivering large-scale housing development involves overcoming a host of overlapping obstacles – from planning and infrastructure through to funding challenges.
“Unblocking these pathways will lead to the development of thousands more high-quality, sustainable homes, while helping to drive economic growth.”
