Ward Hadaway’s Post

We have hailed a major victory on the use of licensing schemes to improve housing standards which followed pressure from organisations including CIEH. A government announcement in the English Devolution White Paper means that councils will no longer be required to seek approval from the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government for larger selective licensing schemes. A new general approval for selective licensing will come into force on 23 December 2024 and will enable local housing authorities to introduce schemes of any size without seeking approval from the Secretary of State. We have repeatedly called for this specific change which will make a significant difference to the ability of local authorities to tackle poor housing conditions and are delighted that the Government has now addressed this important issue. Read the full press release: https://bit.ly/49DldZb #Housing #EnvironmentalHealth

Step two of actions the NSW Government should take to release the brake on the planning system (step one linked below). Ditch third party appeals. These appeals allow someone who provided a submission into the consideration of a development application, the ability to take the eventual outcome to court. They provide those who can afford it a louder voice in the planning system than those who cannot. They delay development of housing as construction can be held up while the matter goes through Court, and the appeal can be for any item no matter how trivial so long as the appellant provided a submission on the initial DA. They create another avenue for unnecessary allocation of scarce planning resources to Court action, delaying all other proposals and ultimately the provision of housing. Worse still, they require planners to justify in their planning reports why all sorts of assessment matters are compliant (as opposed to just the few items that are not and require assessment). These all contribute to the cumbersome nature of the NSW planning system. Last Friday the government pressed even harder on the accelerator with the new Housing Delivery Authority model for high value development applications. No matter your view on that new model and its ability to accelerate things, it's hard to see it being as successful as it could otherwise be if actions aren't taken to release the brakes at the same time. Step three coming soon.

Government planning reforms aimed at boosting housebuilding in England have come into force. A series of updates to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) made today (12 December) include reintroducing mandatory housing targets for councils, with areas with the greatest potential for growth receiving the largest. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said in a statement that "stronger action will ensure councils adopt up-to-date local plans or develop new plans that work for their communities". While continuing to prioritise brownfield, the updated NPPF will require councils to review their greenbelt boundaries to meet targets, identifying and prioritising lower-quality 'greybelt' land. Under new 'golden rules' any greenbelt development must meet strict criteria requiring developers to provide infrastructure such as nurseries, GP surgeries and transport, as well as a premium level of social and affordable housing. Councils and developers will also need to give "greater consideration" to social rent when building new homes, the department said. Related questions you can explore with Ask CN, our new AI search engine. The changes were first revealed by the chancellor in July. The government then ran a consultation over the summer. The changes are aimed at meeting a government pledge to build 1.5 million homes by 2029.

Government planning reforms aimed at boosting housebuilding in England have come into force. A series of updates to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) made today (12 December) include reintroducing mandatory housing targets for councils, with areas with the greatest potential for growth receiving the largest. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said in a statement that "stronger action will ensure councils adopt up-to-date local plans or develop new plans that work for their communities". While continuing to prioritise brownfield, the updated NPPF will require councils to review their greenbelt boundaries to meet targets, identifying and prioritising lower-quality 'greybelt' land. Under new 'golden rules' any greenbelt development must meet strict criteria requiring developers to provide infrastructure such as nurseries, GP surgeries and transport, as well as a premium level of social and affordable housing. Councils and developers will also need to give "greater consideration" to social rent when building new homes, the department said. Related questions you can explore with Ask CN, our new AI search engine. The changes were first revealed by the chancellor in July. The government then ran a consultation over the summer. The changes are aimed at meeting a government pledge to build 1.5 million homes by 2029.

The NSW government has done a great job at stepping on the gas with addressing the housing shortage. The TOD program and the AI solutions panel demonstrate the foot being firmly on the floor. The problem is the other foot is firmly planted on the brake! There's a lot of noise and smoke but are things actually moving? The Council league table is a great speedometer, but is it measuring how fast we are moving or how fast the wheels are spinning? Stage two of the governments planning reforms has to be to get the foot off the brake pedal. Step one, align the deemed refusal period with the expected time of determining an application. The current deemed refusal arrangements simply provide a resource-hungry approval pathway for those who can afford it which opens 40 days after lodging a DA, if a Council hasn't sent you a request for information within 25 days. 25 days is nigh-on impossible in our system of complex assessments, particularly where many DA's require advertising for 28 days! This results in valuable planning resources being tied up in the resource-hungry pathway of the LEC, to the detriment of all other DA's in the system. Sure, there needs to be a period of time where an application should be deemed as refused, but it needs to at least resemble a reasonable excess amount of time. Stay tuned for step 2. P.S. I nearly failed my driving test as I took off with the handbrake on, so I'm talking from experience here!

The next recent NSW government housing related announcement to get some theoretical oberservations is the Housing Delivery Authority (HDA). It's understandable such an organisation is proposed given the processing of most PPs lost sight of their intended outcome over the last decade or so. Strategic plans are vague, the number of agencies providing comments became longer and longer, the assessment framework changed regularly per PP and during the course of a PP, the assessment time frames are drawing out to 2-3 years at best, just to name a few hurdles. The HDA is also likely to draw in more DAs away from Council's. There's every likelihood the HDA will narrow the focus for assessment processes and delivery timely feedback as well as outcomes. This should boost housing delivery. On the other hand, the continued drawing away of applications such as PPs and DAs from Councils will continue to 'hollow out' their respective planning departments. Critical planning analysis, decision making skills and a general understanding of market patterns does appear to be waning from Councils. This is a shame for the institution with the closest connection to average Joe's and Jane's. It perhaps also explains why, in part, the profession is seeing fewer and fewer new entries and why several universities have discontinued their planning degrees. Just observations...no criticism intended... https://lnkd.in/gU2dYVPc.

Good news for the housing market: planning permissions are finally looking to be easing up for practical, demand-driven projects in areas where housing needs have been stifled by restrictive local authorities. This is exactly what the industry has been hoping for, with both large and small sites set to benefit from a supportive push, helping more projects cross the finish line in the coming year. As the new planning regime takes root, we’re optimistic this is just the beginning. #HousingMarket #PlanningPermission #SMEhousebuilders #RealEstateDevelopment #AffordableHousing #Construction #UrbanDevelopment #LocalAuthorities #HousingDemand #PlanningReform #GrowthOpportunities #Infrastructure #EconomicGrowth #SustainableDevelopment #BuildingTheFuture

Labour might be doing something about housing that’s positive for development. Whether the council’s thoughts at refusal of this scheme were NIMBY or more about car congestion remains to be seen, but an objective viewpoint will hopefully make the best decision. Housing is certainly needed and 8000 moving forward instead of standing still is not insignificant. #PropertyDevelopment #Planning #StrongerTogether #TableNetwork

Big news today! The NSW Labor government has announced the details to reform tenancy laws to remove arbitrary and unfair no grounds evictions. We'll have more to say this week, and there is still work to do to ensure implementation is effective but for today, this is a win for generations of renters and advocates. This represents the final steps for a reform decades in the making, and that deserves celebrating. https://bit.ly/3A2Y30A

The government’s response to the NPPF consultation feedback over the next few weeks will be fascinating and crucial. Local authorities understand that they must play a central role in addressing the national housing shortage, but many understandably feel that they are already doing this. I fear that without strategic planning in place to disaggregate housing requirements sensibly across regions of the country some local authorities will feel simply unable to produce local plans that meet their requirements. Even if they find the land to do it they will struggle to make plans politically palatable to their local electorate. The government is going to have to find a way to support local authorities to produce ambitious local plans whilst not pushing so hard that some decide to give up and simply face the consequences. That could lead to a breakdown of the plan-led system and a host of undesirable consequences.