Boyer directors respond to the Comprehensive Spending Review

Lawrence Turner, Director in Boyer’s Bristol office, gave an overview of the Spending Review and its impact:

“Florence Eshalomi MP rightly stated that today’s Spending Review is “make or break” for fulfilling the Government’s pledge to build 1.5m homes over the course of Parliament. Without this afternoon’s seismic announcement of a £39 billion investment in affordable housing, it was highly probable that the Government would not have even reached halfway towards achieving its housing targets.

“We now have some hope that this ambitious target could become a reality, rather than just a distant goal. However, to build 1.5m homes, the Government needs to now focus on three areas.

“Firstly, it is essential that the promised investment is strategically channelled; not solely to housing associations to buy up the affordable allocation on private developments, but also to local authorities’ planning departments. These departments have been stretched thin due to historic lows in Government funding since the austerity years. Local authorities need to have sufficient resources and expertise to determine planning applications swiftly and efficiently, and ensure homes are delivered on the ground.  

“Secondly, given the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, additional stimulus measures are needed to support the housing market. Rising mortgage costs and inflationary pressures have reduced sales rates, particularly for first time buyers. While this year’s planning reforms have been welcomed, many in the industry have been calling for the return of Help to Buy to stimulate the market; and in Kier Starmer’s own words “turbo-charge house building.”

“Finally, the Government needs to win support from local communities for new housing developments, particularly in rural areas that often do not feel the impacts of the housing crisis first hand. Much of the new strategic housing growth will be planned close to our towns and cities, often in more rural areas. The Government needs a strategy to clearly communicate to these communities why tackling the housing crisis is urgently needed and to demonstrate the long-term benefits that accompany new housing developments for communities.”

James Cogan, Director in Boyer’s London office provides some further insight into the impact on housing:

“The new funding for the Affordable Housing Programme is a huge increase and should be welcomed.  Affordable Housing is a clear winner in an otherwise difficult Spending Review.

“Our hope is that the additional £39bn for affordable housing and the rent settlement for Registered Providers will go some way towards meeting the Government’s target for 1.5m new homes.  The measures announced today will be a big boost to RPs and local authorities, increasing funding and creating certainty on future rental income, allowing RPs and local authorities to invest in new developments.  This will not only increase the delivery of new affordable homes but will also unlock open-market housing.

“However, whilst the additional money for affordable housing is welcomed, it will only deliver new homes if the planning system is equipped to deliver the necessary planning permissions.  Put simply, if local planning authorities continue to be underfunded and under resourced, the new homes to be paid for by the additional funding will not be built.

“Although the investment announced today reiterates the Government’s ambition to turbo-charge housebuilding, it won’t be a silver bullet - plenty of obstacles to housing delivery remain.  The additional funding must be accompanied by greater flexibility on it can be spent.  Rather than simply being used to buy existing affordable homes, the additional money should be made available to unlock new development, with funding used for site assembly and infrastructure costs etc..

“The affordable housing sector has been a real winner in today’s Comprehensive Spending Review, but challenges will remain.  The funding must be accompanied by greater flexibility on how the money can be spent, additional funding for local planning authorities and the building safety regulator.  The considerable extra funding announced today will have no impact if the homes can’t be delivered!”

Nick Diment, Director in Boyer’s London office considered the impact on planning for transport, energy and infrastructure:

“We welcome  investment in the North and Midlands from levelling up perspective, though the exclusion of London from the announcements today was notable and disappointing.

“That said – and this needs to be recognised in the draft London plan - the approach to delivering economic growth shouldn’t be reliant on the delivery of infrastructure alone. Any effective economic strategy needs to be robust enough to stand on its own two feet and not reliant on infrastructure. My expectation in that with the right economic circumstances London will remain the powerhouse of the UK as it always has.

“Plentiful, clean energy has never been more important and the funding for Sizewell C will, long term, go some way in addressing rising energy prices and energy security.

“But there’s much more to creating a new nuclear power station than funding. Successful delivery will require access to not only workers but materials, and these materials will need to be stored in accessible locations distribution warehouses which will inevitably further fuel the local resistance to the scheme. This is just one of the many practical issues that the implementation will face.

“Regarding the country-wide strategy for energy generation, for this approach to be effective requires a strategic and well-planned approach to delivering infrastructure. Such initiatives cannot be looked at in isolation and this is just the start.

“We all wait with interest to see what the Industrial Strategy says. But without wishing to sound like a broken record, this needs to be aligned with housing and other infrastructure strategies if the government is to create the right conditions to deliver home jobs and economic growth.”