Ethical partnership have been obtaining planning permission for self-builders for more than 10 years now with successes across the UK. It’s always been a popular route but with demand outstripping supply even fewer self-builders can find land that is both affordable and likely to obtain planning permission. We’ve been lobbying councils for more land to be allocated for self-build but few seem to be listening, and fewer councils are allocating sites and giving approvals.
So the dream of building a Grand Designs family home is rapidly fading for thousands of Brits – despite Government claims to have sparked a ‘self build revolution’. Ministers appointed TV star Kevin McCloud to mastermind the initiative. Whilst recently Tory chairman Grant Shapps claimed that self builds would double under the Coalition.
The truth is more sobering as official figures reveal.Government has calculated that only 10,588 homes were built by self builders but by 2011 this had slumped to just 8,235, according to the figures released in a Parliamentary Answer to Labour’s shadow communities secretary Hilary Benn.Mr Benn said that ‘Despite the popularity of shows like Grand Designs, and the unending flow of optimistic press releases from DCLG about a purported “self-build revolution” the truth is laid bare in these damning HMRC statistics’
‘The number of people claiming VAT relief on their self-build homes, DCLG’s own proxy measure for the number of homes completed, far from doubling has actually fallen by a fifth.
‘At a time where young people and families are crowded into insecure and expensive rental properties, this Government is doing too little to help them realise their dreams of home ownership, and isn’t doing enough to support self-builders.
‘One Nation Labour is committed to building the homes we need and Ed Miliband has made it clear he expects us to reach our goal of getting 200,000 homes built a year by the end of the next Parliament, and we want self-build to make an important contribution.’
However it’s not quite so black and white as labour ‘for’ and coalition ‘against’ – the labour party is in power in County Durham but has recently refused planning permission for an application for 22 self-build plots. This has been appealed by ethical partnership and we’re awaiting a decision from the coalition’s planning inspectors.
Partner Allen Creedy said “we’re optimistic that the inspectorate will agree that our client’s brownfield site can meet a local need for self-build plots”
Please contact us if you need advice on getting planning permission for your self-build homes.