CONSERVATIVE PARTY CONFERENCE 2016: David Cardale is a committed Conservative Party member. He and his wife have recently built one of the nicest homes in their district. “We joke that we are Mr & Mrs Smug,” he says. “So I wanted to do something to help other people build their own homes.”
He could be Theresa May’s ideal party member. For this has been the conference where every policy has been delivered through the filter of one overriding message: how to build “a country that works for everyone”.
Cardale handed over a flyer claiming government could “solve the housing crisis and any Brexit recession” by allowing councils to auction valuable planning permissions. His argument may be questionable, but he certainly struck the right party note when we met in a queue on Sunday before the prime minister had delivered her first speech.
This is the new prism through which the government sees housing delivery.
“Making housing more affordable will be a vital part of building a country that works for everyone,” said chancellor Philip Hammond.
Communities secretary Sajid Javid elevated the delivery of more homes to the status of a “moral duty” which “falls on all of us.”
What does this tonal shift mean for the industry?
“I hope they’ll interpret it as a clear clarion call for them to get building more homes,” housing minister Gavin Barwell said as he walked between two of his 17 speaking appointments.
“The key message is I want to see more of everything. I want to see more homes built for the open market, I want to see more homes in the PRS, more shared ownership, more sub-market rent homes as well. Because the need that exists in the country is across all tenures.”
As well as a clear shift away from the former administration’s dogged commitment to home ownership and starter homes, a new tough line towards both councils and developers has emerged.
“The big developers must release their stranglehold on supply,” Javid said. “It is time to stop sitting on landbanks, delaying build-out: the homebuyers must come first.”
Addressing local authorities, he warned MPs and councillors they must be “prepared to make difficult calls” on planning applications, “even if they are unpopular.”
Full details of how this ideology will be reflected in policy will not be revealed until the release of a housing white paper around the time of the Autumn Statement on 23 November.
However, it is clear the industry should expect policies promoting SME housebuilders, off-site construction and brownfield development. Barwell has also strongly hinted that policies to speed up the planning system will include allowing councils to raise planning fees to help fuel under-resourced departments. Measures to encourage institutional investment in PRS are also guaranteed.
Housing is high on the government’s agenda, and this administration has so far shown a more interventionist approach focusing on supply over demand.
However, Barwell warns development-friendly policies will only operate on a two-way street. “If we deal with problems in the planning system, we can then turn to developers to ask them to do their bit,” he said.
Conference 2016 might have been light on hard policy. But it was heavy on sentiment. As one council adviser says at a reception, the property industry should take away one thing from this. When pitching yourselves to government, just make sure you make it clear how you’re creating something that “works for everyone”.
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