Looking back at the last few Ponderings produced by the Planning and Development Team, there seems to be one recurrent theme and that is “uncertainty”. That has never been more true than it is now, as we write these Ponderings in October 2022. The dawn of a new government has brought turmoil to the markets, and despite heralding new policies seeking to promote economic growth, there is the very real prospect that the opposite may happen. Rising mortgage rates are likely to make it even more difficult for first time buyers to enter the housing market and, despite increases to the threshold from which Stamp Duty Land Tax is paid, there are many predicting that house prices will begin to fall. Coupled with inflationary pressures on build costs, there will undoubtedly be pressure on the viability of larger development sites which have to carry a high infrastructure burden.
Set against this is continuing supply side constraint, with good quality sites in short supply and slow to come to the market. In the Planning and Development Team we are pleased to report which sites that we have brought to the market in 2022, either with planning permission or longer strategic potential, have found a good body of interest amongst housebuilders and promoters. Sites will often take a long time to come through the planning process and short term economic uncertainty can be offset against the longer term need to have an available supply of land for housing, for which demand remains unabated.
Once more the planning system seems to be a major obstacle to delivery and we are finding that many planning authorities are under severe resource pressure and are unable to deal with applications efficiently and on time. This is clearly something that the government will have to address if they are to unlock their economic growth aspirations. One measure muted in the recent “Mini Budget” was the introduction of Investment Zones to help drive growth and deliver housing. Bedfordshire and Warwickshire are two of the authorities in our immediate operating area that have been mentioned as potential Investment Zones at this stage. Within designated Investment Zones, taxes may be lowered and planning restrictions will be minimised and streamlined. There is much more flesh to put on the bones and there will inevitably be tensions with a stated desire to maintain local support and deliver environmental gain, but the government’s intention is clear in terms of the direction of growth that they wish to travel.
Andrew Middleditch
Planning & Development
