The current construction of new homes is only half of what is really needed to even scratch the surface of what is required to meet the demand for housing. Yet the National Home Improvement Council says there are millions of empty homes and other buildings all over the UK which could be used to provide up-to-date, energy efficient dwellings!
Apparently, planning permissions in England have halved in four years according to the latest Home Builders Federation/Glenigan Housing Pipeline report, published on 1 March.
It shows that in 2011 only 115,000 permissions were granted – half the level needed to build the homes required to meet demand. This is the lowest number of permissions seen since the survey began in 2007, HBF said.
In Q4 2011, 27,732 units were granted approval, a fall on Q3 and on the same period in 2010.
Social unit approvals for 2011 were a dramatic 47% down on 2010 levels and 52% on 2006 permissions, totalling 16,334.
Stewart Baseley, HBF’s executive chairman, says: “This is a stark reminder as to why government must stand firm and deliver a robust and adequate planning system.
“Government has recently unveiled some very positive measures aimed at boosting housing supply, particularly the NewBuy scheme, but they cannot succeed unless we have a truly pro-growth functioning planning system.”
But Andrew Leech, executive director of the NHIC, explains: “The demand for ‘new’ homes in the UK could be substantially met by improving and upgrading the millions of dwellings in this country which are already standing idle. Also there are many thousand of other redundant buildings in our villages, town and cities which ideally lend themselves to change of use to provide first class accommodation that is very well-built and can easily be brought up to the required energy efficiency standards. They could all be renovated to provide economical, low cost homes that are cheaper to run and meet the government’s carbon reduction parameters.’
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