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"In the current climate, it's important that we don't inadvertently talk ourselves into an economic downturn by over-analysing the economic indicators out there or jumping to conclusions about how the economy is performing when these aren't borne out by experience on the ground."

'Exploiting uncertainty'

He added: "We need to remain vigilant against suppliers exploiting the Сcurrent economic uncertainty to increase costs artificially.

"I would encourage building employers to bring any such practices to our

attention so that we can raise these with government and make sure industry competitiveness isn't adversely affected as a result." иLast week, a survey by the Scottish Chambers of Commerce found a pick-

up in construction activity in the third quarter.

It suggested both housebuilding and public sector contracts returned to growth, with almost 45% of all businesses in the sector stating that total sales

had increased.

By IsabelleбАFraser

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-37677540

HOUSE BUILDERS' FEARS OVER GOVERNMENT PLANS FOR

'USE IT OR LOSE IT' POLICY OVER LAND

5 FEBRUARY 2017 • 10:05PM

House building industry sources sounded alarm at proposed Government plans to give developers a timetableДto build homes, or risk losing their planning permission.

The long-delayed housing white paper, due to be released this week, will hit house builders which have been tasked with helping to meet the Government’s target of one million new homes by 2020.

onerous on the sector, potentially leading to fewer homes being built, more slowly. As a result, house builders could seek smaller planning permissions in order to get around the rules, and bottlenecks would develop in the already-stretched planning system.

One major developer said that the 'use itИor lose it' measure would be

The policy could also damage SME builders, creating another barrier to entry for the sector which has already declined by 80pc in the last 25 years.

Adam Challis, head of residential research at JLL, said: “Increased risk for holding land will only mean that housebuilders hold a store of sites prepermission, rather than push developments through more quickly. It is likely this measure will have the opposite effect of its intent, by increasing the risk of holding oven-ready sites for development.”

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A report by planning consultancy Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners found that imposing build out rates on private land would be “counter-productive by dis-incentivising the promotion of land”.

With this in mind, a simpler way to build 1m homes by 2020 would be to keep granting high number permissions.

The policy is similar to one piloted by Central Bedfordshire council, which Сagrees a build-out rate with developers and then writes it into planning

permissions. It has been suggested that the measure could reward developers for building homes more quickly by letting them off paying for new local roads, bridges and community halls which they must do under Section 106 agreements. It could also only apply to public sites and could also be coupled with a sales risk guarantee.

иDevelopers are often hamstrung by a shortage of labour and also limit how

Last year Sajid Javid, the communities secretary, said: “It’s time to stop sitting on land banks and stop delaying build-out.” But the House Builders Federation (HBF) said that the average build out rate on sites was 100 homes per year, which has doubled since 2010.

in housingбАsupply demonstrate that housebuilders have responded positively to progressive, pro-development Дpolicies and that more punitive measures are not required.”

quickly homes are finished so that prices are not pushed down by new

properties flooding the market. Development sites with more affordable

homes or rental properties are able to build out more quickly as they do not

have to drip-feed the properties to the for sale market.

Andrew Whitaker, planning director at HBF, said: “The recent huge increases

Another measure expected to be in the white paper will reward firms building pre-fabricated homes, constructed off-site in a factory, by making it easier for

them to procure public land. Policies to support the streamlining of planning permission of building homes to rent are alsoИon the cards, as are opening up

the green belt for more development, and using car parks to convert to homes.

Sources also suggest that the white paper will include measures to create more transparency in the land market, and open up records to reveal who owns it.

From “The Telegraph” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/02/05/house-builders-fears-

government-plans-use-lose-policy-land/

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HOW DO YOU BUILD A PLACE THAT PEOPLE WANT TO

LIVE IN? LOOK TO THE PAST AND LISTEN TO LOCALS

By Isabelle Fraser and Rhiannon Bury 5 FEBRUARY 2017 • 9:35PM

Regional Growth Funds, Local Enterprise Partnerships, the Northern СPowerhouse: successive UK governments have over the past few years tried to boost productivity and development outside of London with a series of

buzzword-driven policies.

Chancellor Philip Hammond relaxed borrowing rules to launch a £23bn fund for investment in housing, transport and innovation in November’s иAutumn Statement. The money will be used to build infrastructure for up to 100,000 new homes and fund the installation of better broadband connections, for example.

The GovernmentбАis still pushing on with establishing a garden city from scratch in Ebbsfleet, Kent, and the forthcoming housing White Paper will also promote the establishment of brand new garden towns and villages. So, how do you create successful places where people want to live, which contribute to the economy? Two thriving towns offer examples: take lessons from the past, and listen to the local community about what they want for their future.

Since it was established as a new town 50 years ago, Milton Keynes has been the butt of jokes, perceived as somewhere, filled with 130 roundabouts, where nobody would want to live.Д

“People turn their nose up at it, which is unfair,” says Johnny Morris, head of residential research at Countrywide. The soaring property market begs to differ, with house prices rising 45pc in the last five years.

People want to live in Milton Keynes. Part of the draw is the strong local economy: there are high levels of employmentИand income, with big businesses such as Argos, Deloitte and Network Rail offering a full range of low to high skilled jobs. “You have to build a strong local economy,” says Morris. “You should be aiming to build a place of its own rather than a dormitory town for people to live and work elsewhere.”

This is a problem for Ebbsfleet, which in 2014 the Government pledged would be Britain’s first new garden city in 100 years, with 15,000 new homes. It set up a development corporation, similar to that which created Milton Keynes 50 years ago. Just 17 minutes away from London by highspeed train, you might think it would be a roaring success. But even in an area where the housing shortage is most acute, demand for homes there remains weak, and after nine years after building first started, so far only around 500 homes have been built there.

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The lack of a strong local economy is one culprit. But it’s also about the place itself, the urban environment which fosters the development of community, even in a big city. Milton Keynes was built in the third wave of new towns, meaning it could be planned with the benefit of hindsight, avoiding the mistakes made in the previous iterations.

Built on a grid, it was designed to grow with the population, with each Сgrid square its own community with its own amenities. Estates and squares

continue to be built and evolve, more densely packed now to accommodate public transport and filled with amenities so, for example, existing schools don’t fill up.

иMilton Keynes council. “You have to ask, how can we build communities? When it builds a new grid square, Milton Keynes doesn’t build houses, but it

There is also a vast amount of green space: two-fifths of it is open space and the council looks after 22 million trees and shrubs; 40pc of it was

designated to be left unbuilt in the original masterplan.

“People can really see the benefits of growth. That’s what Ebenezer

shops, greenбАspaces and schools.

Howard’s garden city movement was based on,” says Pete Marland, leader of

builds a community. Amenities actually make a place. And that’s in the tradition of the garden towns.”

The Government’s new garden towns could benefit from learning from Milton Keynes’ example, says Simon Elliott, a senior partner at Haart estate agents. Each grid square is a “developed community which has their local

“The locality of services meansДthat homeowners are more attached to the area in which they live. Developers should bear in mind when planning that

local infrastructure is as important for buyers as the houses in which they buy.”

As well as looking to the past, councils are beginning to realise that communities may hold the key to creating Иplaces people want to live. A

group of residents in Guildford have adopted a fairly hands-on approach to getting what they want out of their town’s future by drawing up their own plans for its regeneration.

Guildford does not lack interest from large businesses - Ericsson, Allianz and Philips Electronics have a presence in the town, among others. Given its proximity to London, house prices are some of the most expensive in the UK outside the capital.

But its growth is being hampered, some residents say, by a road system unable to handle the number of cars it now serves, and a lack of good public transport, as well as a desperate need for thousands more homes.

The council has published its own plans to refurbish the existing bus station, which it says will open up the town centre, helping local businesses, as well as building hundreds of new homes and new railway stations.

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But a group calling themselves the Guildford Vision Group have challenged the council to pursue a much larger £2bn plan to regenerate the entire area, which it presented to local residents last week.

It proposes building a new £90m east/west crossing for the railway and

river to help bring people into the town’s shopping area, as well as 3,000 new homes on brownfield land in the town centre. The new crossing would reduce Сtraffic running through the centre of town, meaning much of the land by the

river could be turned into space for the public to enjoy, the plan suggests.

The group is led by John Rigg, himself a former director at Savills who worked to secure funding for some of the largest developments of recent years, including London’s first Westfield shopping centre. Rigg says the reaction from the wider public has been overwhelmingly positive: “We are as far away as you can imagine from the NIMBY model of a resident group,” he

иchanges the council wants to make. “Urban development is not easy for the council,” he concedes. “There’s a shortage of money, and of experts to do the job.”

says. “We are pro-growth, pro-development.”

He explains that the group wanted to present an alternative to the limited

He wants the council to set up a development corporation to take over responsibility from the council, securing funding from private partners and brokering deals with related parties such as National Rail and the National Trust.

But while this works in smaller towns and villages, Rigg says, larger

conurbations such as Guildford require a more formal strategy. “Neighbourhood forums do try and deal withИthese things,” he said, “but

projects like this require involvement at a regional level.” He thinks getting the Guildford Vision Group to draw up its ideas has given residents the chance to see an alternative future for the town - one which the council should adopt.

The old, but effective plans behind Milton Keynes and the ambitious ideas of a group of locals suggest that buzzwords should be far from the thoughts of those planning future communities. Create the amenities, build strong local economies and listen to people to build places people want to live in.

From “The Telegraph” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/02/05/do-build-place-people-

want-live-look-past-listen-locals/

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