Say Yes to Self-Build

The UK planning debate is pretty polarised between those who see the UK as full with no room for any further development outside of brownfield sites, and those that understand the need for new housing on an industrial scale.

As you might expect, I’m in the latter camp, but I share the concerns of those who fear the impact of massive housing estates being approved on greenfield sites against the wishes of local residents. You can understand their apprehension. For example, onshore wind farms are being imposed as a necessity despite the very idea being deeply unpopular to some. So who is to say the same thing won’t happen with sprawling estates of identikit housing?

It is therefore reassuring to see self-build being used as a solution to ease the critical shortage of housing. The good work from NaSBA continues apace and the idea of letting communities construct the houses they would like to see is slowly gaining momentum. Community self-build is a logical answer to creating affordable, environmentally friendly housing and is already proving successful in areas like Bristol with the Ashley Vale project.

There is still potential for individual self-build to address much of the shortfall if only our obsessively restrictive planning rules could be eased. To me, that’s what the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) meant when it said ‘presumption in favour of sustainable development’.

The UK has one of the lowest rates of self-building in the EU, but despite this, around 40% of all new detached homes in the UK are self built. Surely this is something to celebrate and encourage?

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Lib Dem minister Don Foster said, “I want to free up housebuilders and more self-builders to get on with the job of constructing the homes we desperately need.”  He was referring to the streamlining the masses of contradictory Build Regs, but the sentiment applies to planning too.

Rather than treating self-builders as cash cows through the imposition of Community Infrastructure Levies, I say let’s start using the NPPF as it was intended and start saying ‘yes’ to more self-build projects.