Govt Plans To Reduce House-Building Delays

Fabric reinforcement suppliers may see a rise in demand for their services if government plans to cut red tape and reduce delays for house-building projects come to fruition.

In an attempt to improve house-building productivity and tackle the housing crisis in the UK, the government intends to draw up housing plans if local councils fail to do so – and those that do cause delays could face fines.

In addition, any housing developments proposed for appropriate brownfield sites (land once used for commercial or industrial purposes) will be granted automatic planning permission.

“We’ll make sure the homes that are needed get built – if a council fails to produce a suitable local plan, we’ll have it done it for them. And we’ll be devolving major new planning powers to London and Greater Manchester,” business secretary Sajid Javid said.

In addition, homeowners in London – who currently have to seek out planning permission in order to build upwards extensions to the height of the adjacent building – will find it easier to do so, as long as they get approval from their neighbours.

Back in May, the National House Building Council revealed that more than 40,000 new homes were registered in the first three months of this year, a rise of 18 per cent for the same period in 2014. Chief executive of the NHBC Mike Quinton said these statistics were encouraging and were indicative of strong growth levels in the housing industry across most of the country, although he did add that the UK is still building below the level that is needed.