Shapps outlines 50% community support plan for new housing

The Localism Bill will deliver the most radical reform of housing in a generation, Housing Minister Grant Shapps said today.

Mr Shapps said the Localism Bill would sweep away top-down building targets, and in their place give local people the power build the homes their community needs. He added the Bill will also end the "lazy consensus about the social housing system, which has become unfair and ineffective".

He said decision-making powers on housing will be returned to local councils and communities through a new Community Right to Build. Under this initiative, communities will be able to come together and give the green light to new homes, shops and businesses, without the need for formal planning permission, as long as there is 50 per cent community support in a local referendum.

The scheme will be backed up with cash incentives through the New Homes Bonus for councils that allow new development in their area. Under the New Homes Bonus, Council tax from new homes will be match funded for six years, with more cash available for building affordable homes. Almost £1bn Government funding has been set aside so councils who build more homes start benefiting immediately from the extra cash, which they can spend on improving the local area, say ministers.

The Bill will also affect all areas of social housing policy, giving councils "more flexibility to use their social housing stock to the maximum effect and drive down waiting lists". Ministers believe that the current centrally-determined rules to allocate social homes are unfair and, despite £17billion of spending on social housing over the last 13 years, have caused waiting lists to almost double to five million people.

Housing Minister Grant Shapps said: “With housebuilding at its lowest peacetime level since 1924, the time is right for radical shake up of the entire system. The Bill will end top-down targets – in their place communities with the vision and drive to build more homes will be given the freedom to achieve their ambitions, and this will be backed up with powerful cash incentives for councils that allow new development in their area.”

“With five million people languishing on social housing waiting lists, the system for social housing is also ripe for reform. Councils will now be able to manage social housing in a way that genuinely meets the needs of local people, and will be able to offer flexible tenancies that give people the helping hand they need, for as long as they need it. The new system will be fair, and the lifetime tenancies and succession rights of existing tenants will not be affected.

“But our reforms go beyond building more homes and introducing a fairer system for social housing – we also want to slash the pointless red-tape that is strangling the housing market, and blocking peoples’ aspirations to own their own home. That’s why we’ve made HIPs history, which has already given a boost to the housing market – because rather than shelling out hundreds of pounds for nothing in return, we're letting home owners get on with selling their properties.”