MHCLG's Busy Day: New Towns, New Homes, Draft Legislation & First Time Buyers
February 13th is rarely noteworthy. It is a date that tends to be overshadowed by its more famous neighbour*. This year, however, was an exception.
This year, MHCLG turned February 13th into very busy day indeed.
This post attempts to summarise yesterday's announcements.
There a quite a few of them; so we should probably make a start.
Let's begin with the latest news from the New Homes Accelerator programme.
By way of a reminder, the New Homes Accelerator programme is a collaboration between the government, Homes England, the Greater London Authority, local authorities, developers and others. It was set up to unblock and accelerate the delivery of stalled housing developments.
Last year it published a call for evidence, seeking information on large-scale stalled housing sites.
Yesterday, it published a response to that call for evidence.
The key points from the response are as follows:
- The call for evidence identified 725 stalled developments of 500+ homes
- about 50% of these sites aimed to deliver more than 1,500 new homes.
- The call for evidence also identified systemic problems with the planning and development process, including the role of statutory consultees, infrastructure delivery, utilities provision and environmental factors.
- MHCLG has begun to work with the relevant bodies to understand the causes of these issues and consider any changes that can accelerate delivery.
- MHCLG and Homes England are exploring what support is possible for specific sites.
- The government is prioritising larger sites with the potential to deliver 1,500 homes in or before 2029.
- MHCLG and Homes England will be contacting sites which are identified as likely to benefit from support to gather more information and, where appropriate, agree the support to be offered.
New Towns Taskforce Interim Update
Yesterday also saw the publication of an interim report from the New Towns Taskforce, which was set up to identify, locations, delivery mechanisms and guiding principles for the Goverment's New Towns programme.
The update doesn't contain any prospective locations, but does set out the guiding principles for the New Towns programme, which are encapsulated in the picture below:
It also confirms that:
- The Taskforce's call for evidence resulted in over 100 responses, primarily from London, the south and the east of England.
- Most submissions were for urban extensions to existing towns or cities. There were fewer proposals for new standalone settlements.
- The next stage of the Taskforce's work will focus on site selection and analysising the impact of different delivery and funding models, as well as the approach to land acquisition and placemaking.
- The Taskforce is also addressing the following ‘priority policy areas’:
- the approach to affordable housing in new towns and tenure mix
- the powers, structures and financial models needed to achieve the delivery of new towns
- the terms of land acquisition, including the contractual arrangements with local leaders and others with a stake in each new town location
how to define the boundaries of new towns and capture the land value and how this can be done at an early stage
Whilst we are on the subject of New Towns, yesterday also saw the publication of a press release centred on the New Towns Programme.
Pertinent information from the press release (which is not listed above) includes:
- plans for a brokering service to resolve disagreements and issues raised by statutory consultees. Promising that : "Bodies including National Highways, Natural England and the Environment Agency will need to bring planners and housebuilders to the table and iron out concerns that have been holding back development".
- Working with the Building Safety Regulator to improve the speed and efficiency of process Gateway checks
- The following funding announcements:
- £1 million for government agencies, including National Highways, Natural England and the Environment Agency, to speed up the planning approval of new homes and improve feedback to local authorities and industry where required.
- £2 million to support the Building Safety Regulator to continue improving the processing for new-build applications.
- Over £3 million of grants for local councils to bolster planning capacity.
- £20 million to help transform neglected small-scale council-owned sites into new homes.
- Nearly £30 million from the Brownfield Infrastructure and Land Fund in Bradford to transform derelict brownfield sites.
- £1.5 million to support a regeneration programme at Manchester Victoria North.
Written Ministerial Statement and Draft Statutory Instruments for Crown Development Published
Yesterday, also saw the publication of a Written Ministerial Statement and variety of draft statutory instruments.
These are designed to enact the provisions of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act (LURA) that allow Crown Development and Urgent Crown Development on Crown Land to bypass local planning authorities and make applications directly to the Secretary of State.
Crown Development is defined in LURA as development of “national importance”. Urgent Crown Development is, perhaps a little obviously, crown development that needs to be carried out urgently. Crown Land is, in essence, land owned by the government, the Crown or the Duchy of Cornwall.
The draft statutory instruments are:
- The Town and Country Planning (Crown Development Applications) (Procedure and Written Representations) Order 2025 – which details the procedure for planning applications for ‘Crown Development’ determined by written representations.
- The Town and Country Planning (Crown Development Applications) (Inquiries and Hearings) Rules 2025 – which details the procedure for Crown Development’ applications determined by Hearing or Inquiry.
- The Town and Country Planning (Crown Development) (Urgent Applications) (Procedure) (England) Order 2025 – which contains the procedures for planning applications fot ‘Urgent Crown Development’; and
- The Town and Country Planning (Consequential and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2025 – which amends existing secondary legislation as a consequence of the Crown Development routes.
The draft statutory instruments need to be affirmed by both houses of Parliament, but all being well should come into effect in the Spring.
Permanent Mortgage Guarantee Scheme for First Time Buyers Promised
And finally, in the last of our pre-valentine's treats we had the promise of a new permanent Mortgage Guarantee Scheme for first time buyers.
The key paragraph is a short one, so I have set it out below in full:
“New details on the new Mortgage Guarantee Scheme will be announced in due course and will replace the existing Mortgage Guarantee Scheme, which was due to expire this year. By making the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme permanent and comprehensive, banks and building societies will have long-term confidence to continue offering low-deposit mortgages.”
That brings us to the end of MHCLG's very busy day.
I hope you all have a fabulous Friday! With chocolate, if you are so inclined.
*That would be today. Happy Valentine's Day. Please accept this planning update in lieu of a card… it may not be in the true spirit of the holiday, but it is more tree friendly.
The government has committed to launching a new, permanent, comprehensive mortgage guarantee scheme that will open the door to homeownership for more young families and hardworking renters.
Alongside this the Economic Secretary to the Treasury has written to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) following their response to the government’s call for regulators to support growth, setting out the government’s support for their proposal to review mortgage rules. The government has made clear it wants the FCA’s review to be as ambitious and rapid as possible to help as many people as possible to achieve the dream of owning a place of their own.”
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