South and West of England: Increasing Housing Supply

Homes England’s Strategic Partnerships, with higher grant rates and greater freedoms, will play an important role in delivering more affordable housing.

The current context is that there needs to be a significant increase in delivery to achieve the aim of building 300,000 new homes by 2025. Housing associations would expect to lift their output from 65,000 homes a year to 100,000 homes.

While the Letwin Review concentrated on maximising delivery, it would not increase density, something that could be counterproductive and result in fewer numbers. In contrast housing associations, with an emphasis on place making and sustainable developments, are more likely to have higher densities.

The new NPPF was published in July 2018, replacing the NPPF first published in 2012. The new NPPF has 17 topic-based chapters and the order indicates the Government’s priorities. The presumption in favour of sustainable development has been retained.

Building on the Government’s Social Housing Green paper, councils are being given greater freedom to deliver social housing. The Green Paper is seen as re-booting central government’s relationship with the sector, with some welcome initiatives to increase council-led construction of social housing by increasing and now removing the borrowing cap.

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