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South West Housing Initiative

SOUTH WEST HOUSING CRISIS MUST BE MADE A PRIORITY FOR RUTH KELLY

South West‘s unique Housing Initiative will urge the new Secretary of State to back urgent calls for more homes in the region

 

Faced with the UK‘s biggest housing crisis, the South West could benefit from Tony Blair‘s recent Cabinet reshuffle, which saw Ruth Kelly taking over the housing, planning, and local government roles of Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott.

This is the reaction from leaders of the South West Housing Initiative (SWHI) following Ruth Kelly‘s initial announcements and media interviews, in which she has committed to the urgent need for increased house-building.

Unique in the UK, the South West Housing Initiative is a voluntary partnership representing the region‘s biggest house-builders, housing associations, employers, and the professions involved in property and planning.  Their aim is to work with local, regional, and national politicians to address the Region‘s need to increase the delivery of new homes (including affordable and social housing).

According to Michael Clarke, Chairman of the South West Housing Initiative:  “It is now accepted that the South West has Britain‘s biggest homes crisis and the largest ‘affordability gap‘ between average house-prices and average incomes.

“Until now, most Government announcements have been focused on delivering new homes in the South East and the North, like the huge Thames Gateway project and the Northern Way initiative.  There has been little mention of the South West, where house-building trails behind demand and the widening affordability-gap is threatening a migration of young employees and key-workers, like teachers and nurses.

“Partners in the South West Housing Initiative are convinced that the problem can be solved. 

“Right now, the South West‘s local politicians tend to approach every planning application from a negative stand-point – more mindful of NIMBY voters than the needs of young people and key workers.

“That NIMBY attitude is probably based on out-dated perceptions of creating unattractive low-cost housing estates.  We have assembled examples of ‘best practice‘ to prove that affordable housing can be a crucial component of sustainable communities in the South West.

“We took great heart from Ruth Kelly‘s early statements and media interviews, when she committed to tackling the NIMBY factor, and making the provision of more homes, including both affordable and social housing, a core priority – without limiting that commitment to the South East and North”, said Mr Clarke.

The South West Housing Initiative is already in dialogue with the Regional Assembly (which now has responsibility for planning the region‘s future housing deliver) and is urging the Assembly to increase its proposal from 23,000 new homes per year to at least 25,000.

SWHI‘s co-ordinator, Martin Willey, said:  “Latest Government figures show that the South West has only been delivering about 17,000 new homes per year, while the region is growing by more than 25,000 households per year.

“So it is not surprising that we have seen prices continue to soar beyond the reach of first-time buyers and low-paid workers, and that we must deliver more affordable homes within mixed-tenure developments of social rented, shared ownership, private rented, and market-sale housing”, he added.

But, while the SWHI‘s home-building partners claim that they can deliver the housing that the region needs, it cannot be done without joined-up Government support and investment.

“It is crucial that the new homes are accompanied by public and private investment in the roads, schools, and infrastructure to deliver genuinely sustainable communities”, said Mr Willey.

A key question for Ruth Kelly will be where those extra new homes should be located.

The latest report from the Commission for Rural Communities has identified the South West‘s need for at least 6,000 new low-cost homes in rural areas each year, at a time when less than 2,000 are being delivered.

One of the SWHI‘s leading partners is Teresa Butchers, CEO of the Devon & Cornwall Housing Group, and a member of the Government‘s Affordable Rural Housing Commission, which recently reported the need to double the level of rural house-building in the West Country.

“Most Government housing announcements have been focused on cities and major towns.  Right now, the delivery of homes in the South West‘s rural areas falls way short of what is needed to enable young people to remain and work in the region”, warned Mrs Butchers.

The SWHI has also identified the need to consult the region‘s employers in identifying where new and affordable homes should be located.  The South West Region of the CBI (another SWHI partner) is spearheading a survey of employers, with financial support from the Chartered Institute of Housing, to capture regional employers‘ views and experience.

SWHI Steering Group member, John Slaughter (Director of External Affairs for the Home Builders Federation) said:  “It is as crucial to identify where new homes should be built as it is to establish how many new homes are needed”.

Having researched and assembled examples of ‘best practice‘ in the South West, the SWHI partners are convinced that they can deliver the extra homes the region needs.

“Our biggest challenge is to convince the Government, the South West‘s regional agencies, and the local planning authorities of the need to deliver all the new homes that this region so desperately needs – and that they can be delivered in ways which produce affordability, quality, and sustainability if we all work together”, said SWHI‘s Martin Willey.

He acknowledged, however, the political hurdles to be overcome, with local communities and their councils reluctant to sanction new housing developments – especially if they put a brake on house-price inflation, which many voters see as a “good thing”.

According to SWHI‘s chairman, Michael Clarke – a partner at regional law firm, Clarke Willmott, and former regional chairman for the CBI:  “Quite simply, the residents and councillors in the South West have to decide whether they want to see property prices continue to soar, and accept an exodus of young workers and key employees (including nurses and firemen) who are priced out of the housing market.

“The alternative is to embrace the need to deliver more land, more planning consents, and more infrastructure investment in roads, schools, and community services to enable the South West to deliver its potential for economic growth and retain its young people and key workers”, he added.

The SWHI will present its proposals and ‘best-practice‘ solutions at its second annual conference, to be staged at Bristol‘s Mariott Royal Hotel on 26th June.

“We shall invite Ruth Kelly, and her Housing Minister, Yvette Cooper, to attend this event”, said Michael Clarke.

“SWHI‘s partners have proved that they can deliver the new homes the region needs, but they can only do so with the backing of the Government, its regional agencies, and the local authorities,” he added.

ENDS             2nd June 2006

For further information please contact David Sturgess on 01275 349011 or email david@sturgessvandamme.co.uk or Martin Willey on 07836 315896 or email willeyytp@aol.com

PHOTOS:

Top: Michael Clarke

Bottom: Martin Willey

NOTES TO EDITORS

i.                    The South West Housing Initiative is a unique partnership – viewed as a national pilot-trial for the UK;

ii.                  Partners in the South West Housing Initiative include:

-                     The Home Builders‘ Federation (HBF) – representing the region‘s largest house-builders;

-                     The National Housing Federation (NHF) – representing the region‘s largest housing associations;

-                     The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) – representing housing professionals;

-                     The CBI – representing employers;

-                     The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) – representing professional planners;

-                     The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) – representing chartered surveyors;

-                     Law firm, Clarke Willmott

-                     EDF Energy

iii.                The SWHI‘s employers‘ survey has been supported by the CBI, BEMA, and Business West.

iv.                 The SWHI believes that the South West must deliver at least 25,000 new homes per year for the next 20 years – and that they must provide mixed-occupancy solutions (combining freehold, shared-ownership, and rental) in locations related to need (rural and urban, and within environmentally sound commuting distance of employers).

v.                   The SWHI partners are all involved in delivering new homes in the South West, and have assembled examples of ‘best practice‘ in the region to prove that their objectives are deliverable;

vi.                 The independent Joseph Rowntree Foundation has identified the South West as having Britain‘s biggest housing crisis and “affordability-gap” – the difference between average house prices and average earnings;

vii.               Recent reports have also identified the South West as having the biggest house-price-inflation, the biggest proportion of second-home ownership, and the biggest concentration of “wealthy retired” home-buyers.