- Plan ItBack
- Design ItBack
- Build ItBack
- Homes
- ProductsBack
- CostsBack
- Self Build Cost Calculator
Estimate your project costs instantly with Build It's interactive self-build cost calculator
Calculate Now - Costs & Finance
- Contracts & Warranties
- Build It Estimating Service
Get an accurate, detailed cost breakdown of your project
Submit plans
- EventsBack
Login/register to save Article for later
With all the hype around on-going changes to the planning system, you’d be forgiven for thinking we were entering into a house builders’ free-for all. But planning policy has to be interpreted at the local level by councils, council planners and local councillors sitting on planning committees.
I was reminded of this last week as I sat in a planning committee meeting. The planning officer assured the councillors that the 2004 Local Plan policy relevant to new edge of village housing had been consistently applied over many years.
No mention was made of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). Nobody questioned whether the tried and tested policy needed to be looked at afresh, seeing as it had been adopted a full eight years before the NPPF came in. It was business as usual and an altogether acceptable self-build project got voted down.
I hope my clients will appeal, and if they do, there’s every chance we’ll succeed. Meanwhile it will be interesting to see how long it takes for the Government’s pro house building and pro self-build messages to fully sink in at the local level. It’s certainly happening in more and more places.
What’s your experience locally? Is yours a ‘can do’ council doing everything to help your project succeed, or is it an ‘obstacles’ council, hell bent on thwarting your ambitions?
You may be interested in
It’s funny you should bring up this topic, Mike. I recently attended a seminar during National Self Build Week, at which planning minister Nick Boles again reiterated the government’s pro self build agenda.
With house developers unable to fulfill the 230,000-270,000 homes we need each year (apparently major house builders have never completed over 150,000 units), Boles and the government have identified self build as having the potential to bridge the gap. No wonder, when you consider that in many other European countries self build accounts for around 60% of all the housing supply (compared to just 12-15% in the UK).
Boles was very clear that he intends to highlight the importance of self build to all local authorities. In his words, he wants to “encourage local authorities much more actively to make specific provision of sites for self build” and he also emphasised that “if local authorities want more houses quickly, self build is a good route.”
I’ll blog later in the week with a fuller account of what was said at the debate, which also included insightful contributions from Ted Stevens, chair of the National Self Build Association and several other luminaries from the planning world.
Chris Bates, Deputy Editor, Build It magazine