For the last 40 years, London’s housing crisis has worsened with the whole social housing sector being neglected and underfunded. Now, experts are debating how the housing crisis can be solved and expecting the government to raise the issue. The Centre for London’s (CfL) recent report has ignited a critical conversation about the possibility of strategically building on low-grade greenbelt land in London, arguing that the city’s growth has been stifled, emphasising the need for a long-term vision for housing. According to the report, this approach could double the annual housebuilding rate in the capital, potentially reaching 74,000 homes per year for a period of 15 years. With the government proposing 300,000 homes to be built, Clive Holland, broadcaster on Fix Radio – the UK’s only national radio station for builders – explains what the UK must do to meet homebuilding targets, with a point of view from the trades.
The report further suggests that the mayor of London and the government should establish “development corporations” to oversee construction in strategically defined areas of the green belt. As construction output is also at an all-time low, with November’s PMI scoring 45.5, the CfL emphasises that addressing the housing crisis calls for financial commitment from the government. The report suggests an increased investment in affordable housing programs, recommending the government allocate £15.1 billion annually to fund the construction of 90,000 social homes per year in England.
In addition to these proposals, the report suggests that local authority planning departments should receive increased resources, grants, and adjustments to planning fees to keep in line with inflation. Currently, the Royal Town Planning Institute revealed that three-fifths of town planners lack resource to deliver to government targets such as the Biodiversity Net Gain policy. This measure aims to ensure that the planning process becomes more efficient and responsive to the growing housing demand.
Clive Holland, presenter at Fix Radio – the UK’s only national radio station dedicated to tradespeople – provides his insight on the current state of the construction industry:
“The government target of 300,000 houses to be built per year, even before COVID was extremely unrealistic for a couple of reasons. After Brexit, a lot of our support teams went back to their own countries, we didn’t have enough people in our industry, we’re already short of tradespeople as it is. Everybody except for emergency services, and the building industry, believe it or not, and trade associated trades, virtually stopped working during COVID, you know, 80% of the population were furloughed, and so on. So it was always going to be a tricky one, to try and get anywhere near that demand of 300,000 houses built.
“Now you’re in a situation where a lot of house builders have mothballed a lot of their sites because they can’t sell them due to rising interest rates. Lots of sites generally around the country would have been flooded with people buying off plan without even looking at the house.”
