Berkeley Group, Churchill, Weston Homes and the Riverside Group join the call to recommit to 300,000 homes a year
Berkeley Group, Weston Homes, Churchill Retirement Living and the Riverside Group have all pledged their support for Housing Today’s A Fair Deal for Housing campaign.
They join housebuilders including Barratt, Persimmon, Keepmoat Homes, The Hill Group in calling for the government to recommit to delivering up to 300,000 new homes a year. Housing Today has pledged to work with organisations from across all parts of the housing development industry to come up with ways of helping the government meet this target.
Rob Perrins, chief executive of the £2.35bn turnover Berkeley Group, said: “As a nation we must deliver the homes we need for future generations, and any failure to build enough high-quality housing today is storing up problems for the years to come.
“Unlocking housing delivery and driving investment into long-term, high-quality placemaking is therefore crucial to the country’s future. Delivering connected, nature-rich places is key to tackling social inequality and solving the current health & wellbeing crisis.”
Bob Weston, chair and managing director of Weston Homes, which has a £2.13 billion portfolio of residential and mixed use developments in London and the south east, said: “Weston Homes fully supports Housing Today’s campaign to encourage the government to recommit to their target of building and delivering 300,000 new homes a year.”
See also: A Fair Deal for Housing - Re-committing to 300,000 homes a year
See also: Geeta Nanda: The time has come to get building
He highlighted National Housing Federation figures which say the UK actually needs to build 340,000 new homes a year up until 2031. Weston also pointed to NHBC figures which showed in 2020 only 123,151 new homes were actually delivered, compared to 160,319 in 2019. “And the 2021 figures are also anticipated to show a huge shortfall - this is due to planning delays, funding issues and viability challenges on certain sites”, the Weston Homes boss said.
Housing sector umbrella-groups have also supported the campaign. They are the Home Builders Federation (HBF), the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), the G15 group of London-based housing associations, the British Property Federation (BPF), the House Builders Association (HBA), which is part of the National Federation of Builders (NFB), and the Land Promoters & Developers Federation (LPDF).
Spencer McCarthy, chair and chief executive of £160m-turnover Churchill Retirement Living, said: “We believe the retirement housing sector on its own has the potential to deliver up to 30,000 new homes per year to meet the demands of an ageing population. With one in four older people saying they would consider downsizing if there was more choice available, the opportunity is clear. To help realise this, the government must take action to remove the sea of red tape and the broken planning system that currently stand in the way of growth.”
Carol Matthews, chief executive of the Riverside Group, said: “There are huge opportunities ahead, particularly with the Levelling Up Bill, for the Government to work with the sector to deliver a long-term strategy that rebalances and increases housing investment across the country.
“We welcome this campaign and hope it helps drive a much-needed shift in housing supply and investment that reflects the levelling up ambitions of the country and gives everyone access to a secure, good quality and affordable home.”
Housing Today launched the campaign following concerns the government is turning its back on its 300,000 homes-a-year manifesto pledge and watering down radical planning reforms that were intended to get Britain building. Housing Today believes that number of homes a year is achievable with government support.A Fair Deal for Housing campaig
A Fair Deal for Housing
Housing Today believes the government should not back away from its manifesto pledge of building 300,000 new homes a year by the middle of the decade. We badly need more homes, and a lack of supply is a major factor in creating problems of affordability for both buyers and renters.
Over the next few months, Housing Today will be exploring potential solutions to help us ramp up housebuilding to 300,000. These are likely to include different ways of working, funding asks of government and policy ideas that could boost housebuilding.
We want to hear from you: what do you think can make a difference at a policy level?
What can the industry do better?
We believe that, with the right commitments from ministers and the industry, it is possible to build more homes and help the government to meet its objectives to “build beautiful”, improve quality and safety, boost home ownership and level up the UK.
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