Smaller builders are calling for the government to remove the one-hectare threshold for theproposed medium-sized plot definition of ten to 49 homes.
Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner announced the new medium sized definition in a planning reform working paper released at the end of May in a move to support smaller housebuilders.
However, the inclusion of a one-hectare area limit is problematic for SMEs who typically operatein less densely populated areas than London, the southeast and big cities such as Manchester.
ProBuild 360 Ltd construction manager Michael Parinchysaid: “For SMEs, the commercial viability of a development is calculated using plot numbers, so to use other thresholds and measurements would be a misunderstanding of how things work at this scale and counterproductive to the real-world activation of the SME housebuilding sector.”
The National Federation of Builders Size Still Mattersreport illustrates that smaller housebuilders are typically based in less urban areas and are more likely to build houses than flats.
An analysis of 132 local planning authorities shows less densely populated areas would struggle to build as many as 49 homes on one hectare of land without building more flats.
The managing director of Suffolk-based Gipping Construction Andy Laflin said his firm had a strong history of delivering social homes. Two of its most recent projects were 38 and 34 dwellings per hectare.
“This is common in our county of Suffolk, which is more than twice the size of Greater London.This means understanding that a blanket one-hectare limit doesn’t work in practice.”
Carr and Carr Builders managing director and Federation of Master Builders president Chris Carr agreed.
“It is about what you build and why,” he said.
“We may be building bungalows for ageing populations, which take up a larger plot footprint. Or steered by planning on open space.”
Development sites increasingly need more non-housing land
The sector also points out that the introduction of bio-diversity net gain and sustainable drainage has seen a steady increase in extra land development sites must set aside.
It adds an area threshold restricts local planning authorities’ ability to shape places through appropriate densities.
Many local authorities require varied provisions of on-site open space. For example, Coventry city council mandates a minimum of 0.1 hectare of open space for sites of more than ten homes on a one-hectare site.
Cambridge, Birmingham, Colchester, Bath and NE Somerset councils require cycle tracks and walkways on new developments.
Lindum Homesdirector Mark Foster said that outside major cities SME projects delivered infrastructure on site that doesn’t currently exist locally enabling more homes to be built.
“Sites up to 49 homes and two to two and a half hectares are typical for us, most SMEs, councils and housing associations. If we want to make these projects and businesses more viable, we must not add an upper area limit to site sizes.”
Deeley Groupjoint managing director Eleanor Deeley agrees. She said: “As an SME we want to deliver as many great homes as possible but if streamlined planning was limited to one hectare it would stop us growing in the way we had hoped and act as an artificial cap on housing numbers delivered by SMEs.”
Brokers Hank Zarihs Associates said development finance lenders wanted the one-hectarearea threshold removed as it restricted the type of project delivered on medium sized sites.
LinkedIn Question: Would the removal of a one-hectare area limit for medium-sized sites lead to poor use of land?
