Housing and planning boost welcomed by most

Yesterday the prime minister and deputy prime minister unveiled a package to help deliver up to 70,000 new homes, 140,000 jobs, a £40bn guarantee for major infrastructure projects and a £10bn guarantee for new homes.

The plans also include a £280m extension to the FirstBuy scheme to help first-time home buyers and a one-year relaxation of planning rules to fast-track domestic and commercial property extensions.

John White, TTF chief executive said house and shop extensions were key markets for timber frame construction and other timber products.

“We need to get the economy moving again,” he said. “The construction sector – and the timber industry in particular – is key to helping achieve that.”

However, he said the construction sector needed more than these “small measures” and greater government action was needed.

The Construction Products Association (CPA) was more cautious in its response. It said no details were given on how 75,000 homes would be unlocked.

“Hardly reassuring if you take into account that the government failed to unlock the 100,000 homes announced last year in its Housing Strategy,” said Noble Francis, CPA economics director.

“There will be a positive impact on a small number of households who wish to do extensions and loft conversions, but it is a relatively small market and there are questions to be asked on whether this will have a negative impact upon housing transactions."

Mr Francis said large housebuilders would benefit from Section 106 agreement removals from stalled housing sites and the FirstBuy extension. But he said it did not address the affordable housing shortage or the problem of mortgage availability.

The UK’s largest builders’ group, the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) described proposals as a welcome boost.

“The government’s proposals reflect the fact that a series of measures are needed to tackle the housing crisis which is critical if housing and construction are to drive the economic recovery that is so urgently needed,” said Brian Berry, FMB chief executive.

He said the £300m earmarked to provide 15,000 affordable homes and to bring 5,000 homes back into use was “useful”.

But he had hoped the government would focus its attention on regulatory burdens placed on small house builders, such as scaling back developer contributions to local authorities and not adding extra development costs through changes to the new building regulations.

The CBI said the new announcements would provide a construction industry “tonic”.

“We have long said that unfreezing the housing market will be a major game-changer in the drive for economic growth,” it said. It called for early clarification of the details so construction firms could be clear on how to capitalise.

Meanwhile, Aldermore has become the sixth lender to join the government’s FirstBuy scheme, launching two mortgage deals aimed at homebuyers with small deposits.