500m package of proposals to accelerate the building of homes from Government

Housing and Planning Minister Yvette Cooper has unveiled a major £500m package of proposals to accelerate the building of homes, and to ensure both that new homes are greener and the focus is on brownfield land, she claims.

A major set of incentives, provided through the new Housing and Planning Delivery Grant (HPDG), will reward councils which speed up housing supply delivery and maximise the supply of building land in their areas. Local authorities which show they are leading the way in both of these, and helping to meet the Government's ambition of 240,000 new homes per year, will receive a share of the new funding incentive.

The Minister also announced progress in delivering more green homes and more homes on brownfield sites. She revealed that 200 more disused public sector sites across the country have been identified as potential sites for housing and could contribute thousands of new homes. This brings the total of brownfield sites being assessed for development suitability to more than 750.

She also revealed an enthusiastic response to the Government's challenge to the house building industry for all new homes to be zero carbon by 2016. Over 150 organisations, including housebuilders, green groups and local councils, have now put their names to the 2016 Commitment to work together to build 240,000 new zero carbon homes a year within a decade. 152 signatories, including the Home Builders Federation, Local Government Association, Green Building Council and WWF as well as individual developers and councils have now 'taken the green building pledge' and signed up to the Commitment.

Councils will be required to identify at least 5 years' worth of sites ready for housing and a further 10 years' worth for future development. A lack of suitable development land is often cited as the reason for blockage in the delivery of new homes. Yvette Cooper has made clear that, while many councils are ahead of the rest in delivering more good quality homes quickly, some are failing to be proactive enough in identifying the homes their communities need.

The Minister will propose that HPDG will be awarded to those councils which:

• deliver against their housing plans to meet local needs and meet agreed 'development timetables' to speed up new housing. The timetables will commit councils to set out clear and ambitious plans on the number and type of homes needed in a local area, including family homes; and
• identify banks of deliverable land suitable for new homes

She additionally announced that the body which will drive forward the Government's plans for housing growth will be called the Homes and Communities Agency. This reflects its role in delivering new homes and in regenerating existing and creating new communities. The agency, as announced by the Prime Minister in his legislative programme statement on 11 July, will be at the heart of Government's plans for delivering these targets and ensuring the creation of thriving communities through regeneration and renewal.

Background

Today's announcements take forward the Government's commitment to build 3 million green new homes by 2020, and provide additional funding to accelerate the rate of housebuilding across the country as set out in the Housing Green Paper, published on 23 July. Further details can be found here: http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingsupply/homesforfuture

Research from the National Housing and Planning Advice Unit (NHPAU) has shown if we don't build more homes house prices will rise to 10 times average earnings by 2026. House prices have nearly trebled in the past 20 years.

On 11 July, the Prime Minister announced that 550 surplus public sector land sites were being assessed to see if they are suitable for housing. Details can be found here: http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page12422.asp

The HPDG supersedes the Planning Delivery Grant which provided additional funding as a reward for councils who had speeded up their planning decisions.

The HPDG will be targeted at the areas across the country where housing growth is a priority, including the four major growth areas and 49 towns and cities who have proposed extensive housing growth in their areas. Further details will be set out in a consultation shortly, including precise eligibility and allocation criteria. The first payments are expected in 2008.