RICS responds to latest DLUHC announcement on housing

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) have announced a series of initiatives aimed at providing a much-needed boost to the housing market, centred around increasing supply.

Among the announcements:

• Commitment to creating 1 million new homes during the current government – building on RICS calls to reinstate house-building targets.
• £800 million is being spent to unlock 56,000 new homes on brownfield sites while strengthening the importance of placemaking and infrastructure on major developments.
• A consultation on reforming local plans, to make them simpler, shorter and more visual, showing clearly what is planned in local areas so communities can engage.
• Supporting the backlog of planning applications by creating ‘super-squad’ planning teams who will be deployed across the planning system to unlock applications – echoing a long-term call from RICS.
• Communities having a greater say on local needs and contributions from developers, with the Office for Place driving forward the change.
• Greater opportunity to convert non-domestic properties into residential by reforming the planning system.
• Relaxation on planning rules for domestic extensions and building upwards.
• Expansion of building safety measures by introducing new regulations on second staircases for high-rise residential blocks.

Sam Rees, Senior Public Affairs Office at RICS, said:

“RICS welcomes the UK Government’s announcement on boosting the supply of homes, which is essential to creating a vibrant and affordable housing market.

“We have repeatedly stressed the importance of setting new homes targets, and the commitment from Michael Gove to building 1 million homes during this government is a step in the right direction. However, this figure is lower than the government’s original 300,000 new build annual target, which it never met.

“Investment in additional planning resources is welcome, as is the greater importance and consideration of community infrastructure, which is critical to sustainable placemaking.

“Plans to cut red tape to encourage extensions and conversions won’t deliver a significant increase in new homes at scale, but it can help to repurpose high streets and bring shops and offices back into use. It is noticeable the government made a specific reference to the conversion of warehouses when such building types are not often in the centre of communities and the RICS UK Commercial Property Monitor regularly shows demand outstripping supply.

“RICS stresses that any cut in red tape must not come at the detriment of quality, safety, and sustainability, that we have seen with prior planning reforms.”

Gary Strong, Global Building Standards Director at RICS, said:

“England has long been an international outlier with regards to fire safety means of escape staircases, and despite the Grenfell Tower fire six years ago, we are still allowing new single-stair residential buildings of any height.

“RICS is pleased the UK Government announcement today shows they have taken heed of what other countries including Scotland have already done, what expert bodies such as the RICS has been saying, and ensure there is resilience against a single point of failure when it comes to fire safety. We urge the Government to now deliver on this announcement and legislate second staircases in new residential buildings over 18m as soon as possible.

“RICS also welcomes the announcement of the opening of the Cladding Safety Scheme, and again urges this be put in place quickly. Six years is too long for any resident to have to wait for Government to act when it comes to fire safety and cost alleviation.”