This morning the government announced a swath of new measures designed to boost UK productivity, promote a dynamic economy and encourage long-term investment.
Redwood examines what the newly published Fixing the Foundations report means for the real estate industry.
Many points covered in the report were made during the Budget, and you can read Redwood’s full Budget breakdownhere. However, there are a number of important new announcements, including:
Planning
– Introducing a new ‘zonal’ system which will give automatic planning permission on suitable brownfield sites
– Action on local authorities to push through Local Plans more quickly and to intervene for Local Plans to be taken out of the hands of local authorities where necessary
– Further devolved powers for the Mayor of London – the Mayor will be able to call in applications of 50 homes or more and will also have powers over wharves and sightlines
– Removal of planning permission requirements for upward extensions for a limited number of stories up to the height of an adjoining building, where neighbours do not object
– Harsher penalties for those local authorities which are consistently slow at processing applications
-Legislate to allow major infrastructure projects with an element of housing to apply through the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Regime (NSIP)
– A fast-track certificate process for establishing the principle of development for minor development proposals, and significantly tighten the ‘planning guarantee’ for minor applications
– Simplified section 106 negotiations and the introduction of a dispute resolution mechanism
– Bring forward proposals for stronger compulsory purchase powers and give new powers to the Mayor of London and the (upcoming) Mayor of Greater Manchester
Starter Homes
– The government intends to deliver 200,000 Starter Homes by 2020 at a 20 per cent discount for young first time buyers
– Proposals will be brought forward so that every reasonably-sized housing site includes a proportion of Start Homes
– Starter Home developments will be exempt from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and will not be expected to make section 106 contributions
Transport
– Create a new Roads Fund by 2021 – this will be funded by revenues from Vehicle Excise Duty
– Take a decision on airport capacity in the South East by the end of the year
Following an ambitious Budget on Wednesday, the first Conservative majority government in 18 years is clearly keen demonstrate its ambition. This has been a significant opportunity for Sajid Javid in his new role as Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, who unveiled the plans. This also caps off a busy week for George Osborne.
The BBC wrote published a handy breakdown of the report here.