Today’s announcement aims to help meet the 1.5 million homes target and drive up competition across the sector.

The proposals include:

• faster decisions for small sites: Minor developments of up to nine homes will benefit from streamlined planning and eased Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) requirements, with faster decisions being taken by planning officers, not planning committees
• a new ‘medium site’ category: Sites between 10 to 49 homes will face simpler rules and fewer costs — including a proposed exemption from the Building Safety Levy and simplified BNG rules
• more land and financing options for SMEs: Homes England will release more of its land exclusively to SMEs, and a new National Housing Delivery Fund to be confirmed at the spending review will support long-term finance options, such as revolving credit facilities and lending alliances
• a new pilot to unlock small sites for SMEs: the Small Sites Aggregator pilot in Bristol, Sheffield, and the London Borough of Lewisham will unlock sites that would otherwise not have been developed, while attracting private investment to build new social rent homes

Deputy prime minister and housing secretary, Angela Rayner, commented: “Smaller housebuilders must be the bedrock of our Plan for Change to build 1.5 million homes and fix the housing crisis we’ve inherited — and get working people on the housing ladder.

“For decades, the status quo has failed them and it’s time to level the playing field.

“Today, we’re taking urgent action to make the system simpler, fairer, and more cost effective, so smaller housebuilders can play a crucial role in our journey to get Britain building.”

Details are being set out today on modernising planning committees, shifting councillor focus to major developments while expert trained planners handle smaller projects and technical details for quicker outcomes.

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Further support announced for local builders includes:

• £100m in SME Accelerator Loans to help smaller firms to grow and invest using part of the £700m extension to the Home Building Fund announced in December
• £10m for councils to fund more specialists to speed up environmental assessments
• A £1.2m PropTech Innovation Fund to support innovation in small site delivery, for example through use of new data tools

It comes as the government unveiled its plans to train up to 120,000 new apprentices, including within construction.

Neal Moy, managing director at Paragon Bank Development Finance, welcomed the government’s announcement to streamline planning rules for SME housebuilders: “While the devil will be in the detail, this is a positive step and will be welcomed by SME developers that find themselves caught up in a highly bureaucratic and under-resourced planning system that favours larger developers.

“Planning has been the number one barrier identified by SME developers for years, preventing them from getting spades in the ground, with costs and time soaring, so action needs to happen sooner than later to ensure they can accelerate housing delivery.”

Jeremy Gray, head of external affairs at the FMB, said: “The UK’s small housebuilders stand ready to deliver the homes Britain needs, but the planning system has stifled their growth.

“The FMB has long called for reform to the planning system to support SMEs, and so the decision to streamline requirements on sites of up to nine homes, alongside faster decision making, is a positive step.

“The medium site designation will also be welcomed as it reduces planning hurdles, enabling small housebuilders to scale up their businesses.

 “However, the small site allocation in local plans will need revisiting to fully realise the potential of small housebuilders.

“Local planning authorities will also require further investment to ensure that the system has capacity.

“We look forward to working with the government on these proposals to ensure that the nation's micro and SME housebuilders can thrive.”