Councils in need of further powers to help address housing crisis

Councils in need of further powers to help address housing crisis




Local councils need to take more responsibility in addressing the UK's housing issues, B&C has been told.

Local councils need to take more responsibility in addressing the UK’s housing issues, B&C has been told.

The National Policy for the Built Environment Committee recently criticised the government’s housing policy, stating that it is unlikely to meet the demand for both the quality and quantity of houses needed.

The House of Lords said the government needs to devolve further powers to local authorities, giving them more power over new homes, a view supported by development lender Regentsmead.

Ashley Ilsen, Head of Lending at Regentsmead, told B&C: “The government can put the framework for addressing housing issues into place, but ultimately it’s the councils that need to implement it.

“Part of our recent discussions with the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills was working out how [the] government can help local councils speed up the production of affordable housing in this country.

“The feedback we receive when we conduct our developer surveys is that the two key hurdles in building more housing is the planning process and access to finance.

“Given that we are doing everything we can to help plug the finance gap and [get] Britain building, we can only hope these government departments take on board our comments about the planning process and filter this down to local councils.”

Despite often receiving criticism, the government should be given some credit for its efforts in turning around the housing situation, according to Paresh Raja, CEO at specialist lender Market Financial Solutions.

However, Paresh explained that some of the government’s schemes were not as beneficial as they first seemed.

“The government has played its part in the uptick in owner-occupancy of housing, led by the flagship Right to Buy scheme,” Paresh said.

“However, building two affordable homes for each high-value local authority home and providing one-off discounts on special properties, for example, may not be as favourable as it appears, particularly in the long run.

“The situation remains delicate with the quality and sustainability of new developments as an area of main concern.”

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