Nimbys must be embraced if new homes are to be built

Localism need not stop development ...........

Localism need not stop development says the man who is helping turn plans into reality, writes Emily Ford....

You could be forgiven for think that the Nimbys have taken over the UK town halls, given the strength of opposition to new developments during the Labour years. Yet the reality is that the not in my back yard brigade is still not much more than a vocal minority, according to Peter Williams, chairman of the UK National Housing and Planning Advice Unit (NHPAU), which advises government on housebuilding.

He says resistance to development is overblown. “There’s an image that everybody says ‘No, I don’t want it’. When you look, actually quite a lot of people say ‘yes’and of those who say ‘no’ it’s is a qualified ‘no’”

He admits to harbouring some sympathy for Nimbys, arguing that it is often the poor quality of the building work that provokes resentment. “There is a lot of emotion. It is understandable when you look at some of the development that has taken place”

Mr Williams’ view is backed up by research published this month by YouGov and the NHPAU. It suggested that more than three quarters of adults would support more housebuilding in their area if local services such as GP’s surgeries and schools did not suffer Meanwhile, 75 per cent would also support more housing if it was well designed and in keeping with the area. “There is recognition that growth has merits but people don’t want crowded infrastructure, they want investment in the locality, “Mr Williams said.

People living in the South East are twice as likely to have opposed a local planning application for homes than those in the North East while those who own their homes are twice as likely to have opposed development, YouGov’s survey suggests.

The Conservatives have been accused of pandering to Nimbys by removing the onus on local authorities to allow housebuilding. – although they will be offered financial incentives – and giving any third party the right to appeal against planning decisions.

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Scrapping Regional Development Authorities will given greater control to councils, coupled with extra powers to prevent “garden grabbling “by developers.

Mr Williams says that he “hugely welcomes” the move to localism, adding that councils are fed up with being forced to meet Labour’s “top down” targets. “Clearly there is a view that regional government is inappropriate – that it is taking power away from local government understandably wants to restore that power, “he says. However, developing power raises the problem of local authorities refusing to allow any building. A letter to councils from Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, outlining changes to the planning system led the Housebuilders Federation to complain of an “outbreak of nimbyism”

“There is a danger that you go from too much central regulation to not enough,” says Mr Williams. He points to Wales, where a lack of central co-ordination meant the Assembly could not establish how many houses were being built.

“No doubt there will still be a need for government to have a view on what the numbers are and also to see whether local authorities are delivering. “Local government needs to know what it is aiming at. Stepping back from targets is fine but it still needs to inform the housing system.”

With the housing shortage estimated at one million homes, persuading residents to embrace development is crucial. Even at the height of the boom, housebuilders did not provide enough properties to meet rising demand, with the number peaking at 207,000 in 2007-08, for short of Labour’s target of 240,000. Annual housebuilding has fallen to 118,000 since the recession.

“The recession has set progress back. We’ve had a dip and we’ve got to catch up. Ultimately the population is growing – households would like to form and may not be able to, “he said.

Housebuilders lost 40 per cent of their capacity in the recession as well as appetite from Lloyds and RBS, the lenders, to provide finance. “Both were heavily exposed to the housebuilding sector,

“The recession has set progress back. We’ve got to catch up”....

Both have retreated, “Mr Williams said. “What we’ve got is not just a loss of man power and bricks, but a loss of funding capacity” The drop in private house building has a knock-on effect on affordable housing as fewer Section 106 applications, which allow councils to demand and social housing in exchange for planning permission, are brought. Grants brought forward to boost development have all but dried up.

“We clearly have to free up the mortgage market, recover housing supply as soon as we can and think creatively about how more homes can be built with less public subsidy. “he said.

An academic by trade and a former deputy director general of the Council of Mortgage Lenders, Mr Williams believes the importance of housing to the economy “cannot be underestimated”

“If we don’t have a housing system that’s capable of responding [to the growing population]....Britain will price itself out of the global economy.”

The challengers are visible from his own back garden in Surbiton, southwest London. “It is a classic suburban area where every site is being grabbed. You could slowly feel the pressure building as gardens were built on; there were more cars, more people, more sense of development. People slowly pushed back. “he says.

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