Leading independent housebuilder City & Country has pledged its support for a new national campaign by Pocket Living urging the Government to help unlock the potential of small and medium-sized developers to end the housing crisis.
Pocket Living’s “Get SMEs Building Again” reports the difficulties that SME housebuilders face and puts forward a 10-point plan to boost housing delivery by levelling the playing field.
The report notes that the number of SME housebuilders has plummeted from 12,000 in the 1980s to just 2,500 today, with the sector now building just 10% of the UK’s new homes, compared with nearly half of homes in the 1970s.
Pocket Living, supported by City & Country and a number of other developers, has put forward a manifesto of recommendations that it believes will revitalise the struggling small and medium-sized housebuilder sector and massively speed up the number of homes being built on smaller sites across the country.
Wayne Douglas, Managing Director at City & Country, comments: “The report by Pocket Living clearly highlights the difficulties that SMEs face, and puts forward a sound and well-researched plan that could unlock the full potential of smaller businesses to create the homes the country so badly needs. At City & Country, we are keen to support it and would encourage the Government to take urgent action to put smaller developers back at the heart of housebuilding.
“SMEs have a vital role to play in the housing market, but there are too many barriers in their way – the pace of planning is one such hurdle, but another significant barrier is the cost of finance when the planning and discharge process can be so lengthy and uncertain. For SMEs, the risk we take on can mean we can on otherwise viable schemes, struggle to break even on a building project company whereas with more speed and certainty of timing, more schemes could be viably delivered.
The Government should look at offering zero or low-cost finance through Homes England to reduce the inherent risk to development from these causes coupled with their plans for the panning system to make more schemes viable. This would increase the speed at which development is unlocked across the country and result in more variety of the types of housing schemes which are delivered.”
Paul Rickard, Managing Director at Pocket Living, adds: “Small and medium-sized housebuilders have a wealth of skill and talent that needs to be supported. In London alone, the number of SMEs has plummeted by 66% since Pocket was founded two decades ago, making it harder and harder to get new homes built on smaller sites – especially since delays in planning consent are more damaging to smaller businesses.
We are delighted that City & Country has joined our campaign, and we look forward to discussing these proposals in detail with the Government. All of the steps included in Get SMEs Building Again are designed to be cost-neutral for the Treasury and should be low-hanging fruit for the Chancellor.”
City & Country specialises in both high-quality new build developments and the restoration and conversion of historic and listed buildings, with sites across Essex, West Sussex, Wiltshire, London, Edinburgh, Bristol, and Dorset.
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