Plan itBuild it Housing Presentation

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Plan itBuild it!Housing Presentation
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The Housing Shortage
Housing is a basic human need. Everyone
needs somewhere to live. Currently, the UK is
short of homes. It is clear that we need more
housing. But how much do we need?
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The Housing Shortage
Here are some figures A recent Government
report stated that 1.4 million new homes need to
be built in England alone over the next 10
years. The number of homes built during each of
the past five years has remained static at
154,000, with the number of low-cost social
houses being built falling from 16,999 in
2000-2001 to 13,601 in 2002-2003.
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The Housing Shortage

• Why is there a housing shortage? The main reason
  is
• The rising UK population.
• The UK population is growing at a faster rate
  than new
• homes are being built and has increased by over 1
• million since 1997.
• The current population of the UK is about 59.2m.
  If it
• continues to rise at the rate of 0.4 a year, by
  2030
• nearly 65 million people will live here. This
  means that
• a huge number of new homes are required.

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The Housing Shortage
The UKs recent period of economic prosperity has
also caused incomes to rise - those who have
invested their incomes into housing
generally benefited greatly from large house
price increases. House prices in recent years
have increased significantly more than income
rises and this has led to a wealth gap between
home-owners and others.
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The Housing Shortage
Increasingly, those already on the property
ladder are able to invest into second homes
further increasing the housing shortage. At the
same time, the average size of UK households has
fallen as more choose to live on their own. It
is predicted to decline further from 2.32 people
per household in 2003 to 2.15 in 2050. This will
also increase the demand for homes.
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Why Not Build, Build, Build?
The situation seems very clear we need thousands
of new homes in the UK urgently. So why not
just build them quickly?
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Why Not Build, Build, Build?

• There are a number of reasons why this cannot
• happen easily
• We live on a small island where land is precious.
• There are many environmental concerns
  particularly about
• the loss of green open space.
• many people want to live in a spacious house
  close to a city this can lead to ugly urban
  sprawl.
• Lets look at these reasons in more detail

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Why Not Build, Build, Build?

• The recent call for thousands of new homes to be
  built
• has led some people to say that we are in danger
  of
• concreting over the countryside.
• Specifically, many people are worried about
• Loss of green spaces.
• Loss of animal and plant habitats.
• Increased pollution (more homes means more energy
  consumption, more traffic and more noise).

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Why Build, Build, Build?

• House builders dont just build new homes
• developments they build communities and tackle
• many social and environment issues
• Building houses to meet local demand.
• Meeting the need for affordable and first time
  buyer housing.
• Enhancing the local environment by creating open
  spaces within developments and retaining existing
  wildlife and mature trees.
• New homes need new infrastructure roads,
  schools, hospitals, shops, offices, factories and
  leisure facilities within the local community.

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Meeting Demand
There are factors that house builders have to
consider before building 1. Due to the lack of
land availability it is expensive to buy land
especially in City Centres. 2. Many people in
the UK feel strongly that new houses should match
local styles of housing. They say that this is
important to maintain the character of different
regions.
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Meeting Demand

• 3. The government has made plans for new towns to
  be built containing thousands of new houses. The
  plans state that this housing must be
  sustainable
• Built on brownfield (used) sites where possible.
• Be energy-efficient.
• Conserve the natural environment.
• Include community facilities and public transport
  links.

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Meeting Demand
4. The greatest need is for affordable housing
low cost homes, including rented social
housing. Local authorities usually request that
a percentage of all new homes are of this type.
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Meeting Demand
In summary Building large numbers of new homes in
the UK is not a simple issue. As we have seen,
there are many different factors to take into
account 1. The huge demand for housing
particularly low cost homes. 2. The availability
of land. 3. Government policies. 4. Environmental
factors. 5. Regional differences.
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The Planning System
How can all these factors be balanced? And at
the same time meet the needs of the local
community. The answer is the planning system.
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The Planning System
The UK planning system governs how land is used.
It controls what is built and where it is
built. The planning system is run by both
central government and local government. Planners
try to balance the need for new buildings
with the need to protect the environment. It is
the job of local authority planners to work
together with house builders to ensure that new
housing meets the needs of the community.
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The Planning System
New housing developments require
planning permission before they can be
built. Planning permission is granted by local
authorities, such as town councils, which are
made up of elected politicians and planning
experts. Local authorities have long-term
development plans which set out rules about the
types of buildings which can and cannot be
allowed.
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The Planning System
House builders who want to build new houses
must submit a planning application to the local
authority. The application will be carefully
considered.
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The Planning System

• It is very important that the general public have
  a
• chance to comment on plans, so they are put on
• display for 6 weeks.
• Proposed plans can be seen at libraries and
  council offices.
• Anyone in the community can give their opinion
  about plans.

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This information may help you when taking part in
the Plan itBuild it! module. Now please refer
to the Plan itBuild it! guidance
sheets. (Figures and statistics quoted are
based on research carried out in 2004.)