Recent correspondence from the Homes & Communities Agency (HCA) has signalled a great deal of reason for optimism, with 80 public land websites coming in at over 600 acres being put up on the market to speed up home construction.

However, with the EU Threshold in place, a lot of SMEs are struggling to compete within tendering as a result of restrictive financial controls. The House Builders Association (HBA) is working with the HCA to assist in this are by offering a list of smaller websites with a less complicated tendering course of for smaller housebuilders, in addition to facilitating access to much-needed finance.

Speaking on the behalf of the House Builders Association (HBA), Policy Advisor Rico Wojtulewicz stated: “Access to finance has improved but many developers have difficulty drawing it down due to a lack of planning permission. The Government has recognised this fact and as well as communicating with the HBA to find a solution the HCA is making a strong effort to identify small sites and support SMEs. This will surely help but the HBA remains staunch in its opinion that fixing planning and giving small sites and infill the same focus as large sites would not only improve the housing crisis but begin closing the gap between ‘affordable’ and realistically affordable.”

Alongside housebuilders, SMEs working within the North of England stand to learn considerably from authority asistance, because the Northern Powerhouse plan begins to indicate extra tangible advantages for smaller development corporations. Supported by the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, North England Build 2016 shall be held at Manchester Central in April, and has positioned itself as a key platform for SMEs to find alternatives inside the housing sector on account of the Northern Powerhouse initiative.

Chris Fletcher, Marketing & Policy Director at Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, stated: “We are really pleased to be able to support North England Build and it’s great that Manchester has been chosen as the venue for this event. There is a lot of discussion and talk around the Northern Powerhouse at present and also a lot of differing views over what business opportunities will come about as part of this. There’s no doubt that the construction sector will play a major part in the Powerhouse and events like this will help set the scene for many as to what the benefits will be.”