{"id":127672,"date":"2023-06-06T13:16:25","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T12:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=127672"},"modified":"2023-06-06T13:16:25","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T12:16:25","slug":"92-sme-housebuilders-not-satisfied-governments-approach-planning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/92-sme-housebuilders-not-satisfied-governments-approach-planning\/127672\/","title":{"rendered":"92% of SME housebuilders not satisfied with Government’s approach to planning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Local Planning Authority delays in securing planning permission or discharging conditions were identified as a key barrier to growth by 93% of SME housebuilder respondents<\/h2>\n

A survey from the Home Builders Federation on the challenges facing SME housebuilders has found that labour shortages, inefficient planning processes and rocketing material costs are causing significant concerns.<\/p>\n

The survey expands on previous research conducted by Home Builders Federation, Close Brothers Property Finance and Travis Perkins exploring the impact of the pandemic on small and medium enterprise (SME) house builders.<\/p>\n

The latest survey assessed a wider set of challenges facing SME housebuilders, such as mortgage availability, economic uncertainty, rising costs and various new Government levies and regulations.<\/p>\n

Problems stemming from LPAS were a key concern<\/h3>\n

Anecdotal comments from respondents indicated they considered the current state of the planning process to be the “worst it’s ever been”.<\/p>\n

93% of SME housebuilders cited delays in securing planning permission or discharging conditions as a major barrier to growth.<\/p>\n

92% said the lack of resources in Local Planning Authorities(LPAs)<\/a> also impacted growth -and has reportedly increased since 2021 (90%).<\/p>\n

The report found that the similarity of results to 2021’s findings was indicative of “a lack of progress by the Government and LPAs in tackling these issues.”<\/p>\n

Across all regions of England and Wales surveyed, developers felt that planning constraints were one of the top barriers to growth.<\/p>\n

76% felt that staff and resource shortages in LPAs were a major constraint.<\/p>\n

The removal of housebuilding targets was met with criticism<\/h3>\n

SME housebuilders also voiced their concerns about proposed stripping of housebuilding targets from Local Authorities<\/a>, believing that instead of creating a less restricted market, it will remove the bare minimum standards (that many Local Authorities are struggling to deliver already).<\/p>\n

If Local Authorities can\u2019t meet their housing demand with targets set, there is no way they are going to do it with the targets removed,” one respondent said. “Levelling up is all well and good, but the greatest demand for housing is in the south-east and therefore that is where the greatest provision of new homes should be. Housebuilders would not build new homes if they couldn\u2019t sell them.”<\/p>\n

And another, more succinctly: “Do not remove housing numbers targets from local authorities.”<\/p>\n

When respondents were asked if they were satisfied that the Government\u2019s approach to planning and housing was positive for SME housebuilders, 92% said no.<\/p>\n

Costs have risen across the board for SME housebuilders<\/h3>\n

When asked whether the cost of obtaining implementable planning permission had changed in the past three years, 91% of respondents believed the cost had increased, with nearly half(48%) agreeing that it had risen by 11- 30%.<\/p>\n

79% of respondents identified the supply and cost of materials<\/a> as a major barrier to increasing housing delivery over the next 12 months, up slightly from 78% last year, and from 20% in 2020.<\/p>\n

SMEs are often more vulnerable to economic changes, as they do not have multiple projects to rely on for income when one project stalls, as larger enterprises would.<\/p>\n

Similarly to this, SMEs lack the resources to buy in bulk and cannot stockpile to be more resistant to price increases and supply shortages.<\/p>\n

House price inflation softens some fiscal impact of rising costs, but as it is not consistent across regions, many developers cannot rely on this in the long or even short-term.<\/p>\n

Recruitment and apprenticeships are floundering<\/h3>\n

Just under 60% of survey respondents reported difficulties in recruiting for site-based roles over the last 12 months.<\/p>\n

The top five roles most difficult to hire for were:<\/p>\n