Arita Morris gives her thoughts on the highly-anticipated Housing Whitepaper
Today (7th February 2017) the Government released the much-anticipated Housing Whitepaper, detailing its plans for dealing with an ongoing housing crisis across the UK.
Further to its publication, our director Arita Morris has given her thoughts on some of the positive and negative aspects of the outlined approach.
Arita comments: “Overall, we welcome the government focus on housing delivery and, generally, there are many positive elements included within the housing whitepaper. That being said, it remains to be seen whether these are taken through and wholly adopted throughout the consultation period.
“We are particularly pleased to see a plan to alleviate the housing crisis by supporting a broader range of tenures including private rent, as well as further support for local authorities and housing associations to build more homes. Boosting local authority capacity within planning departments will also see benefits, however there are still questions remaining over lack of skilled planners and an increase to fees.
“Other positives include the explicit support, including amending, the NPPF to make it clear developments should make the most efficient use of land where there is an identified housing need. Equally it’s good to see a minimum 10% affordable housing quotient introduced, as well as further action to prevent homelessness.
“However, there were some concerns. The Government review of Nationally Described Space Standards could be a backwards step in a hard-fought battle over decades to improve space standards. I believe that London development, over the past 15 years, has proved mixed tenure housing is feasible using the current requirements.
“Additionally, holding local authorities to account may be counterproductive as the complexity of problems in some inner-City London local authorities are not comparable to some of the more rural areas. They just don’t face the same challenges."
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Above: CGL project - Queens Court for client Notting Hill Housing Group (100% affordable)
Above: 156 West End Lane - a CGL project for A2 Dominion which recently achieved planning consent (50% affordable)
