Self-Builders to Benefit From Reshuffle

The dust is settling after the general election and the major cabinet roles have been filled.

Eric Pickles has departed and is replaced by Greg Clark as the new secretary of state for the Department of Communities and Local Government. As a former junior minister in the Department looking after decentralisation and planning policy, I suspect he will hit the ground running.

Clark is a keen advocate of localism, which is good news because self-build is fairly popular at local level. He also seems to be what political journalists like to call ‘a moderniser’. I’m hopeful that in his new role he’ll build on recent progress and drag the planning process into the 21st century.

Recent self-build advances

I was delighted to see that Brandon Lewis has retained his position as minister of state for housing and planning, a role he took up in July 2014. Although he’s only been in post for a relatively short period, he was in the chair for some of the most positive advances on self and custom building for decades, notably continued progress on the Right to Build initiative.

A cornerstone of this initiative is the Self-Build and Custom Housebuilding Act led by Richard Bacon MP, which received royal assent and became law in March 2015. It requires that local authorities maintain a register of demand for self and custom build in their areas and consider this in discussion on planning matters. Although this was a Conservative-led initiative, it should be added that the Shadow Secretary of State for DCLG, Emma Reynolds, has been a huge advocate of the policy, as well as being an enthusiastic supporter of self-build, too.

I’m glad that there will be an opportunity for some continuity and a renewed impetus behind the fantastic work done so far to bring self and custom building to the many rather than the few. The aim is to make it a mainstream option and to remove the barriers that have held back so many projects in the past.

Shortly before the election, Brandon Lewis personally wrote to every council leader and chief executive of English local authorities stating that: “This government strongly believes that custom and self-build housing can play a crucial role in securing greater diversity [in housing supply] and help deliver the homes that people actually want.”

Support for bespoke house builders

In a market dominated by volume developers, it’s good to have friends in high places and this tangible expression of support for individual self-builders as well as smaller and medium scale house builders, is welcome.

Progress like the exemption from the Community Infrastructure Levy and the introduction of a 10-unit threshold for Section 106 contributions shows real intent to deliver and I do hope that the government having a majority in the House of Commons, albeit a slim one, will allow a bit of stability and the basis to push these positive ideas through.

I believe that self-builders will be able to look forward to a period of progress and continued support over the next five years.