When the BBC asked ‘Bob The Builder’ Jenrick today what he intended to do about the 1m homes already consented but not built, he stayed Shtum.
Now we ask MP’s Jeremy Hunt and Angela Richardson? Do you also intend to stay silent on the subject? If so, WHY? Because many of those consented homes are in Waverley, and on your patch!
And Angie’s patch is under threat because Surrey County Council has its beady eye on Cranleigh! If The Government gets its way, which it will – Cranleigh’s floodgates will literally, be opened. Now, look at Surrey County Council’s cunning plan for ‘Your Waverley’s’ eastern villages.
More than a million homes granted planning permission in the past decade have not yet been built, according to new analysis by the Local Government Association.
It is time to make developers pay for delays.
Latest figures show that 2,564,600 units have been granted planning permission by councils since 2009/10 while only 1,530,680 have been completed.
The number of planning permissions granted for new homes has almost doubled since 2012/13 with councils approving 9 in 10 applications. But according to ‘Bob’ that’s not enough and great swathes of the countryside must now go under concrete, to provide jobs for the building industry?
While in some cases there is a time lag between permission being granted and homes being built, new build completions have only increased by half as much in that time.
Alongside the Government, councils have recognised the shortage of housing and the need to build more homes.
In Waverley’s case thousands of new homes have been consented and one major new garden village on a brownfield site at Dunsfold aerodrome. where 2,600 new homes are planned.
However, the backlog of unbuilt homes shows the planning system is not a barrier to house building. The Local Government Association has called on the Government to use its planning white paper to give councils powers to take action on unbuilt land which has planning permission.
This includes making it easier to compulsory purchase land where homes remain unbuilt, and to be able to charge developers full council tax for every unbuilt development from the point that the original planning permission expires.
With the right powers and funding, the LGA said councils can play a leading role in helping the Government tackle the national housing shortage.
As part of its submission to the Treasury ahead of next month’s Budget, the LGA is also calling for the Government to reform Right to Buy, by allowing councils to keep all of the receipts of homes sold under RTB to replace them and to have the flexibility to set discounts locally.
Cllr David Renard, LGA housing spokesman, said:
“The planning system is not a barrier to house building. The number of homes granted planning permission has far outpaced the number of homes being built.
”No-one can live in a planning permission, or a half-built house where work on a site has begun but not been completed.
“Councils need powers to tackle our housing backlog and step in where a site with planning permission lies dormant and house building has stalled.
“If we are to solve our housing shortage, councils need to be able to get building again and resume their role as major builders of affordable homes.
“It is also vital that the planning process is protected, so that councils and communities can ensure we realise the Government’s ambition of building beautiful homes, which includes the necessary infrastructure and affordable housing.”
The figures analysed by the LGA are government data available here
Permissions and completions
2009/10 | 2010/11 | 2011/2012 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | Total | |
Planning Permissions (units) | 176,900 | 173,900 | 192,400 | 198,800 | 240,000 | 261,900 | 264,700 | 313,700 | 380,500 | 361,800 | 2,564,600 |
Completions | 124,200 | 117,700 | 128,160 | 118,540 | 130,340 | 155,080 | 163,940 | 183,570 | 195,290 | 213,860 | 1,530,680 |
The real scandal in Boris’s bluster about more “affordable” homes is that when the green light to developments is only because they have an affordable element it is at the cost of social housing – this graph shows as affordables go up, the number of socials plummets. So this is bad for low income and key workers. https://p67.f3.n0.cdn.getcloudapp.com/items/X6uNYgzP/Screenshot%202020-08-06%20at%2018.46.41.png?v=b1e92f1c65d0f5baedaba95cc382858a
Great graph on the link you provided, which we will use. The ‘so called affordable homes’ at least the ones we have seen provided here in Waverley – are anything but affordable to those on low wages.
Do the maths: Affordable means 80% of market rate so a 2 bed home anywhere in Surrey is an “affordable” £480,000. To get a mortgage for that requires a couple to both earn £80,000pa.
So tell me how building such affordable housing is helping anyone other than 2nd home owners, buy to lets and upscalers?
Hi WW
Haven’t been able to comment earlier – as I am still using the Magnifying glass to read the 43 Pages of hyperbole. It all looks grand on paper thus far… Happy ….Happy inclusiveness…etc etc… We are all going to live in a “Building Better – Building Beautiful! World” where we can all access Planning via Social Media and our Smart Phones….. Really??
When was the last time anyone looked at a Planning Application on a Lamp post ? It is a typical Tory damning report based on unsubstantiated jargon. WBC’s Planning portal may not be the best But it is out there and Not difficult to use. But I cannot help but feel that over the years people have become disenfranchised with the lack of anything they can do do to stop the bulldozers It is not that they cannot deal with TECH is that they don’t see the point.
My worry thus far is the overly simplistic means of classification; GROWTH areas, RENEWABLE areas and PROTECT – Well we in the East will once again be dumped upon as we have No PROTECTED Areas we simply have GREEN FIELDS….. you know the stuff that you grow Food on – or would do if they weren’t all being laid to waste by land owners in the hope of making a profit as Agriculture is so obviously no longer considered an important part of the British Economy and who can blame them?
According to this document neither should we have areas of GROWTH here in the East with the exception of DP and some other Brownfield sites… due to the Lack of Infrastructure – But I have no doubt that they will get around that via CIL and promises of Infrastructure promises that never happen. When I See a MAP ONLINE that shows train stations, Medical facilities, schools etc in this area then I will believe it… But you only have to look at the SCC map to see there are NO plans for any major infrastructure improvements in the area, Certainly nothing outside of the M25.
“Where proposals come forward which comply with pre-established principles of what good design looks like”
Who is going to decide that? There will be templated designs of good design – which local authorities can throw in their Tuppence worth of design principals…But we will end up with cardboard cutout Homes that may be be Eco-friendly – But what will this country look like in the Future?
Thus far I have seen nothing about SOCIAL Housing – Just 30% Affordable – so where is the change there? and they bang on about CIL like it is something they have just discovered. Even WBC managed to get it going so what is new there- apart from recognising that Land values after Planning approval is granted is significantly higher than it is Pre-Planning….. DOH really???
Also what will happen with existing Local Plans? are they going to have to be re-written? I know we haven’t got to LPP2 but at least we have LPP1 will it mean anything? and will government reimburse councils for the squillions they have spent doing them?
There are some serious EXPERTS that have advised Government on this Document – How can they feel about being named on what is a blatantly obviously a Developer-led Plan? One that the paper states is designed to get the Economy moving again…. For whom? They bang on about letting SME’s into the field but they must know they are in LA-LA land on this – the Big Boys will always win the deals.
I will make the effort to finish the last few pages – But I do not hold out any hope of this being anything other than a whitewash and a means for Dodgy politicians to continue with their Old-Boy Networks to continue to sell this country.
I bow my head in shame to have ever voted Tory
Denise
We have no confidence in the local planner officers and ‘our’ Local Plan. God help us.
Yes, sadly if we care about the countryside, care about the space or building standards of our homes, or the environment, we might as well forget it – beam us up Scottie – please? Boris the Bulldozer and Bob ‘Jenrick’ The Builder you are taking us to hell in a handcart.
By the way, can anyone tell us what The decades of jaw, jaw over Local Plan Part 1 was all about – as for Local Plan Part 2…?