Local Government Authority Becomes First to Redefine ‘Affordable Housing’

For the first time, a local government authority has redefined ‘affordable housing’, based on local people paying no more than 35% of their salary on mortgages or rent.

The West Midlands Combined Authority’s (WMCA) redefinition of ‘affordable housing’ links to the real world incomes of people within the West Midlands, rather than to local house prices.

In November it was reported that the delivery of affordable housing has stagnated over the last 10 years, and the government is under pressure to provide more affordable homes.

(MORE: Permitted Development Rights Are Costing Affordable Homes, LGA Warns)

The new definition, which has been approved by the WMCA’s Housing and Land Board, has been introduced to encourage the delivery of affordable homes for local people, as well as encourage new types of homes to enter the market.

Explaining the Local Government Authority’s Decision

The current definition of ‘affordable housing’ in the UK is 80% of market value, but mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street, who is also chair of the WMCA, says this definition leaves many “frustratingly out of reach’ of buying their own home.

“In recent years, would-be homeowners have been forced to stand by and watch as house prices outstrip wages,” said Street. The new WMCA definition sets this at around 35% or less of the average gross earnings of the lowest quarter of wage earners within the West Midlands. 

Moreover, the new definition means that any development schemes receiving investment from the WMCA (from its devolved housing and land funds) must make a minimum of at least 20% of the homes in the scheme affordable. 

“By linking the definition of affordability to local people’s earnings rather than property, and using this alongside our minimum 20% requirement, we can help make the prospect of homeownership a very real one for many more hard-working individuals and families,” Street added.

“It also sets out a very clear ambition to developers and partners who want to work with us to deliver homes. This is the kind of inclusive growth that is key to building the future of the West Midlands.”

A new boiler prototype that can run on 100% hydrogen gas has been unveiled by Worcester Bosch. 

Worcester Bosch believes the boiler could be instrumental in decarbonising heating and hot water in the UK, and help the UK to meet its climate change targets of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. 

The boiler manufacturer has been developing the prototype over the last few years. The hydrogen boiler also runs effectively on natural gas, meaning the prospective transference to hydrogen gas in the future will be easy for those with a ‘hydrogen-ready’ Bosch boiler, which can convert to hydrogen without the need for an entirely new heating system.

Hydrogen is being widely explored as a solution to the UK’s heating problems. This is because the main by-product of burning hydrogen is water, a carbon-free fuel source.

Martyn Bridges, Director of Technical Communication and Product Management at Worcester Bosch said, “The development of hydrogen-fired boilers will mean millions of existing heating systems in our homes can be saved, rather than the entire system needing to be replaced.

“With fully developed prototypes, various trials planned and many heating engineers and manufacturers in agreement that this could be a viable solution to decarbonise heating and hot water, we are hopeful that the future will be hydrogen.”

The Future of Boilers

In 2019, a report from the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) called for a ban on gas and oil boilers from being installed in all new homes from 2025, but HB&R expert David Hilton is a firm advocate of hydrogen’s benefits.

“Early investigations have found that it is likely that hydrogen boilers can run on natural gas until the day hydrogen becomes available, and a much smaller, almost seamless, conversion of the appliance can then be undertaken.”

The UK government has already introduced measures to improve the energy efficiency of gas boilers, and from 2025 it will be illegal to install a gas boiler in a new build.

According to Worcester Bosch, the boiler will be a direct replacement to natural gas, burning natural gas on its first day until the switch to hydrogen is made. With a similar build to existing boilers, installers will already possess the salient skills needed to install the product.

Earlier this year, the first pilot project in the UK to inject zero carbon hydrogen into a gas network to heat homes became fully operational in Keele. 

A significant minority of local councils in England are resisting the will of the government by undermining the Right to Build registers, according to the National Custom and Self Build Association (NaCSBA).

Andrew Baddeley-Chappell, CEO of NaCSBA, spoke on BBC Radio 4’s You & Yours programme today about the problems people who’ve signed up to the Right to Build registers have faced, and continue to face.

The Right to Build legislation supports people who want to build their own homes, requiring local authorities to help find suitable plots them through the Right to Build registers. 

Around 11,400 new registrations have been added to the self and custom build registers in the past 12 months, but these numbers do not match the underlying demand, with councils using dirty tricks in some instances, NaCSBA has reported.

“A significant minority of local councils are undertaking steps to resist or thwart the will of government and the needs of the people,” said Baddeley-Chappell.

“We’ve found some pretty shocking practices from local authorities that have made it more difficult for individuals either by making it too hard to join the registers, or removing people once they are on the register, or simply counting all new permissions as potentially suitable for custom and self build even if they know that a major house builder is going to build on the site.” 

Baddeley-Chappell also called out the financial restrictions preventing people from joining the lists. “Around 15% of councils charge to be on the lists – the worst example is a council called Three Rivers District Council [in Hertfordshire], which charges £725 over four years simply to register your interest. Those costs need to be cost-justified but it seems pretty clear that Three Rivers won’t be able to do that.” 

What’s the Future of Right to Build?

Later this year councils will have to demonstrate their ability to meet the demand all over again, and Baddeley-Chappell is concerned that the situation could worsen still. “Problems that are building up now are just going to grow into a greater problem in years to come,” he said.

With more registrations each year, the demand is poised to increase, but the UK will remain behind other countries in the custom and self build sector unless councils focus on meeting the demand.

“Custom and self build is relatively rare in the UK – we estimate around 13,000 homes were built in the last year – but if you look across the rest of the developed world then around 40% of all homes are delivered this way. Were we doing that in the UK then we’d be building around 80,000 homes this way.”

You can find your local self and custom build registers on NaCSBA’s Right to Build Portal.

The relaxation of Permitted Development rights has been criticised in a new report for facilitating the creation of poorly-designed homes. 

The Building Better, Building Beautiful commission published a report this week, titled Living in Beauty, which recommends major changes to Permitted Development rights.

The report criticised the government for Permitted Development rights which allow offices to be converted into homes without planning permission, leading to poorly-designed homes without adequate infrastructure.

This, the Local Government Association (LGA) said earlier this month, has led to 13,500 fewer affordable homes since 2015 because developers are not obligated to enter into planning obligations with local authorities, meaning the local authority can lose out on applying restrictions and provisions for affordable housing. 

“Severe [housing] shortage means that opportunistic developers can abuse permitted development rights to produce accommodation of the lowest quality to house those with no alternative. In some instances, we have inadvertently permissioned future slums,” the report says. 

The authors argue that local authorities should have the power to design standards for Permitted Development, and fines should be increased for those who breach the conditions of their planning permission. 

The Building Better, Building Beautiful commission said that by deregulating Permitted Development rights to promote new homes, the government has “thrown the baby out with the bathwater”.

How to Improve Building Standards

The authors have called for better standards to be implemented into Building Regulations, requiring higher-quality design for new build homes and neighbourhoods.

One way to achieve this could be to move minimum home or room sizes into building regulations, the report suggests. This would mean that regardless of whether a development requires planning permission or could be approved under Permitted Development, it would need to meet set design criteria under the regulations. 

However, the authors stopped short of calling for Permitted Development rights that enable office conversions into homes to be removed. 

Tackling ‘Slum’ Housing

Alan Jones, president of Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), welcomed the report and called for the government to act on the findings.

He said: “The commission has rightly condemned permitted development rights, which leave local authorities powerless to stop the development of poor-quality and potentially dangerous ‘slum’ housing.

“The government must acknowledge the dire impacts of this policy and urgently address the commission’s findings.”

The Building Better, Building Beautiful commission has also recommended changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPBF) that would make it easier to turn down planning applications on design grounds.

The government should fast-track planning permission for beautiful housing in the UK, according to a new report, which could be significant for self builders.

The Building Better, Building Beautiful commission published its Living in Beauty report this week which has recommended a series of measures designed to increase attractive housing. The commission was set up in 2018 to investigate how millions of homes can be built in England without compromising on quality and aesthetics. 

Housing secretary Robert Jenrick specifically mentioned self builders in his response to the report, and stressed action needs to be taken to ensure the planning system makes approval easier for attractive builds. 

(MORE: Self Build: All You Need to Know About Building a Bespoke Home)

Jenrick said: “We need to ensure our planning system, with all its flaws and complexities and convolutions favours beauty as the default rather than the exception, with more opportunities for smaller developers, for self builders, for entrepreneurs, for visionaries for great stewards of their landscapes.

“I will establish a ‘fast-track for beauty’ where individuals and developers, who have put in the time to create proposals for well-designed buildings, which use high quality-materials which take account of their local setting; that they can see their developments proceed at pace.”

Should the findings be adopted as policy, self builders could find it easier to secure planning permission if their builds are well designed and use high-quality materials. 

(MORE: Read Robert Jenrick’s speech in full)

Easier to Get Planning Permission

The proposed measures include planting two million trees, giving powers to local authorities to set design standards and awarding tax breaks for retrofitted buildings.

The report argues that if new housing developments are more aesthetic, they will be granted planning permission more easily as homeowners within the community are less likely to object.

This will incentivise developers, the report says, to use high-quality materials and create proposals for well-designed buildings, and will lead to fewer planning applications being held up. 

A goal of planting two million trees on streets should be implemented, the commission suggests, and developers should be encouraged to plant a fruit tree in an urban community orchard per house they build. 

Giving Local Authorities More Power

The Building Better, Building Beautiful commission has also recommended changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPBF) that would make it easier for local authorities to turn down planning applications on design grounds.

Jenrick agreed that local authorities need to have greater influence in the design of new homes. He added: “The report is right that local authorities will need to play a leading role in this design revolution. We will need to ensure they have the right skills and leadership to fully carry out their role as placemakers.”

Crispin Truman, chief executive of Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), the countryside charity, said of the report: “The Commission is right to call for stronger local policies and more weight given to beauty in planning decisions. New homes and new places must be attractive, but also easy to get around without a car, pleasant to live in, low-carbon and friendly to nature. We urge ministers to take up the commission’s recommendations.”

Builders are more optimistic for their businesses this year following the so-called ‘Boris bounce’, according to a new survey by the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).

The FMB’s State of Trade Survey for the quarter ending December 2019 revealed that 37% of builders are predicting higher workloads over the coming three months.

Boris Johnson’s General Election victory in December 2019 has been credited with UK house prices increasing in recent weeks, and the so-called ‘Boris bounce’ could be spreading to builders.

Growing uncertainty over Brexit had previously been associated by over 40% of tradespeople to slower business growth, and by one third of self builders, renovators and extenders who cancelled their home improvement plans. 

Brian Berry, chief executive of the FMB, said: “Builders are more optimistic for the for the future, with over a third of small to medium-sized (SME) construction workers predicting higher workloads over the coming three months. We are yet to see if there has been a so-called ‘Boris bounce’ yet, following the election result, but there are some positive signs.”

One of these positive signs was employment activity increasing for the first time since early-2019, with 19% of builders reporting increased staffing levels. 

Looking to the Future

The survey also revealed that workloads for small building companies fell between October-December 2019, with roughly 21% of firms reporting reduced workloads. This was 5% higher than the previous quarter ending September 2019. 

Northern Ireland was the only UK nation to experience an increase in workloads and enquiries. 

“The end of 2019 was a very turbulent period in the UK, both politically and economically, with Brexit gridlock and a General Election. When you consider this, along with the bad weather we saw in October, it is not surprising that the order books of small and medium-sized construction firms took a hit,” said Berry,

“We know that many consumers were holding off making important spending decisions until the outcome of the General Election was known and this took its toll on workloads”.

The FMB anticipates material and wage costs to rise the next six months, but Berry is optimistic that the first post-Brexit Budget due in early March will provide an opportunity to restore confidence into the construction industry.  

“Builders will be instrumental in delivering key government objectives such as 300,000 new homes by the mid-2020s and reaching Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050,” Berry added.

“Radical policies will be needed to deliver these targets which should include reform of the planning system and a new strategy to make our existing homes more energy efficient.”