Section: Housing Provision
Government's Response to the Barker
Review
The Government
published its response to the Barker Review with a package of measures to help more people into homeownership or social
housing.
Kate Barker's report, published last year, showed that the housing market is not responding sufficiently to meet the needs of the
UK's ageing and growing population, with an ever increasing gap between supply and demand. It called on the Government to act, to ensure more people
can get a foot on the housing ladder or find a rented home to meet their needs.
The Government's response includes plans to consult on new
planning gain tax to fund infrastructure such as roads and sewage for new housing development, as well as tough new design and environmental
standards. In addition, a review of planning rules aims to ensure a better response to different housing markets and local need. Plans for new and
affordable homes are not confined to the southeast, as the Government recognises that every region now has areas of high demand for housing which need
to be addressed.
The package includes:
- A commitment to increase levels of house building, of all tenures, from 150,000 to
200,000 new homes per year, over the next decade, with an overall aim to increase home ownership to 75%.
- A commitment to increase
affordable housing for ownership and rent. A new partnership with the private sector will promote shared equity schemes. There will also be
increased new building of social housing.
- A consultation on a Planning Gain Supplement, proposing a new levy to capture a portion of the
land value uplift created at the grant of planning permission. This will help finance infrastructure and ensure that local communities better share
in the benefits of growth.
- Consideration of the scope for additional housing growth points, including the use of large-scale brownfield
sites to deliver additional homes where local partners are in support.
- A £40 million start up fund for infrastructure projects for
new growth points. A number of local authorities are actively considering an application for New Growth Point status to help further their economic,
housing, and sustainability goals.
- Publication of a new draft planning policy statement for housing (PPS3), to make the planning system
more responsive to housing markets and ensure a better supply of land to meet long-term housing need. Local and regional planning bodies will need to
take account of affordability and the local housing market alongside other factors when deciding how many homes to build.
- Developing new
incentives for local authorities delivering high levels of new homes as part of the Spending Review, including refining the Planning Delivery
Grant.
- Merger of regional housing and planning functions by September 2006, to ensure regions take a strategic approach to integrating
housing and infrastructure requirements.
Homelessness charity Shelter said the Government's response failed to make clear the
percentage of new social rented homes, included in the figures for increased levels of house building, and called on the Government to confront
the full reality of the country's housing crisis.
Shelter is campaigning to end substandard housing for the next generation of
children, and urges the Government to fulfil its pledge to make social rented accommodation a "priority." Shelter wants the Government to
commit the funds needed to build an extra 20,000 new social rented homes per year between 2008 and 2011 - an extra 60,000 homes over and above current
Government plans - in order to help lift around 150,000 children out of bad housing.
