A few weeks have passed since Philip Hammond, the chancellor of the exchequer, revealed his first (and last) Autumn Statement, which outlined the plans and budgets the government had for speeding up housebuilding. 

The key changes included a £2.3bn housing infrastructure fund to deliver up to 100,000 new homes in areas of high demand as well as a £3.15bn devolution deal for London, which will provide funding to build 90,000 homes. 

Alexander Moss, operations manager at Zorin Finance, felt that although Mr Hammond had put housing at the top of the agenda, the plans announced wouldn’t be enough to fulfil its targets of one million new homes by 2020.

“Whether one takes either a pessimistic and optimistic view on the measures outlined in the Autumn Statement, the conclusion is still underwhelming,” said Alexander. 

“…The housing crisis has become analogous to the proverbial carrot-on-a-stick, where a step in the right direction, while moving forward, does little to actually abate the problem.”

Bret Jackson of Finance 4 Business was slightly more optimistic, adding: “He certainly made a commendable stance on acknowledging the shortage of housing in the UK. 

“The additional funding will go a long way, but there is always room to do more. 

“What I think will assist, would be a full understanding of how developers can access this new pot of cash.”

Current planning system needs to be reviewed ‘urgently’

Despite the funding announcements, James Bloom, managing director of development finance at Masthaven, felt the planning system was one of the biggest single inhibitors to new homes being constructed.

James said that he had spoken to the Department for Communities and Local Government regarding the planning system and how it could be simplified. 

“Planning is far too expensive and time consuming and there needs to be a simpler pre-planning certificate which is fundable, the current outline planning is very prohibitive for the SME developer and this needs to be looked at urgently. 

“Until the current planning system is reformed, it is difficult to see how government targets can possibly be met.”

Building on green land ‘the drastic action required’

“A sober and sensible assessment of the available greenbelt land for development is an example of the drastic action required to meet the current growing housing demand,” Alexander added.

“For example, the Adam Smith Institute has calculated that if a strip merely half-a-mile wide was shaved off the London green belt, up to 800,000 new homes could be built.”

Ashley Ilsen, head of lending at Regentsmead, also felt that the planning system needed fundamental change. 

“Assisting with the availability of good-quality sites should also help, and if the government can find a way [to] produce housing at a quicker rate, this may keep prices from an even quicker acceleration. 

“Targets, as with working life, need to be realistic and not just pie-in-the-sky figures to help appease the electorate, so less impetus needs to be put on hitting targets and more on genuine ways to tackle the housing deficit.

“The key for me will be how much land can be unlocked over the next few years and how quickly sites can be passed through the planning process.”

Bret also felt that planning restrictions could be improved and welcomed the announcement of using redundant public land to build on.

“If a town or city has an urgent need for housing and unused land is available, then this should be put to tender with consent, but [come] down to the developer’s expertise as to what goes on the land, freeing up restrictions.”

No government has come close to delivering a sustainable solution

Bob Sturges, head of communications and PR at Fortwell Capital, felt that there was little in the Autumn Statement to suggest that the government had many new ideas.

"All recent governments have spoken boldly about solving the problem. 

“None has come close to delivering a sustainable solution.

“Housing will, therefore, continue to provide copywriters with a rich seam of sensationalist headlines for some time to come.”