Conflict between the promotion of sustainable development in the UK's planning system and the Localism Bill - the local community's right to be heard on planning matters - means that the ability to build affordable homes to cater to demand will prevent a housing revival believes Jonathan Fewster, senior associate, Bircham Dyson Bell LLP.
"The Government's concern is understandable at a time when the gulf in annual average earnings and average house prices is as wide as ever" explains Jonathan Fewster.
"The difficulty is that funding has been substantially cut and there is conflict between promoting sustainable development in the planning system but also promoting localism in the big society agenda.
"The 'not in my back yard' mentality of local communities means that planning will be harder to come by and so housing associations must get involved in the locality and undertake the consultation process which loads more cost and responsibility onto them in times of tightening purse strings. There's no push by the local authorities to do their bit."
The Government has said that it will spend £4.5 billion on building 170,000 more homes over the next four years to meet demand for affordable housing.
"When you actually look at the figures, 90,000 of those 170,000 homes were commissioned by the previous Government - so it's all a bit 'smoke and mirrors'," explains Jonathan Fewster.
"The message isn't as rosy at it first appears. In fact the net effect is the reduction in the amount of houses provided by the social housing sector.
The Government is counting on housing associations raising finance through higher affordable rent, however the people that would be paying it are largely dependent on local authority funding. The upshot is that the silver bullet for sparking a housing revival is flawed."
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
