Politicians’ housing policies “tinker around the edge”

New housing policies from all three main political parties have been giving a reality check from groups representing the timber and construction product sectors.

Headline policies announced at recent party conferences include the Conservatives’ plan to scrap “undeliverable” housing targets and create local housing trusts, while the Liberal Democrats have suggested a local housing bond and VAT cut for repair and maintenance work.

“Whoever wins the next election will have to face up to the fact that tinkering around the edge of the issue will make precious little difference,” said British Woodworking Federation chief executive Richard Lambert.

“Building housing requires land, planning permission and funding. If the next government is prepared to take radical steps to make these available, the construction industry will do the rest.”

The Federation of Master Builders (FMB), UK Timber Frame Association (UKTFA) and Construction Products Association (CPA) all expressed concern at plans to give more housebuilding power to local areas.

“It is clear that this localised agenda could cause problems nationally,” said FMB’s Brian Berry, while UKTFA chairman Geoff Arnold added that “Greater local control sounds fine, but will this become a Nimby’s charter?”

“We are not yet sure that the incentives to build will outweigh the local urge to resist change.”

CPA spokesperson Simon Storer said political parties were trying to score points against each other but many ideas were not thought out. “We do not hold out a lot of hope with any of them at the moment,” he said.

Availability of credit was a key requirement to kickstarting housebuilding, he said.

At the Labour conference, the FMB pressed housing minister John Healey about the need to cut VAT on housing repair and maintenance. Mr Healy said the treasury still needed to be convinced.

But the CPA said a European decision earlier this year purporting to give EU member states power to cut VAT to 5% was misunderstood and the detail suggests builders do not stand to gain from a cut.

The UKTFA warned the government not to withdraw help from the housing market in the near future. “To do so may stall the market just as it recovers.” It also said the stamp duty holiday should be extended and the timeframe for Kickstart and HomeBuy Direct lengthened.

Party policies

Conservative
• Scrap “undeliverable” housing targets.
•Abolish home information packs.
• Scrap regional assemblies and regional spatial strategies.
• Incentives for development with a scheme matching pound-for-pound the extra money the areas get through council tax for six years.
• Create local housing trusts giving villages power to expand by 10% over 10 years.
• End “garden grabbing” development.
• More family homes and fewer flats.

Liberal Democrat
• Free up councils to build thousands of extra social homes.
• Cut VAT on repair and maintenance.
• Tax relief on property improvements.
• Increase institutional investment.
• Local housing bonds where savers come together to invest in their community’s future.
• Build social homes on government surplus land.
• Sell long-term empty state-owned homes (30,000) to first-time buyers.

Labour
• More funding for councils to build affordable homes.
• Developers and housing to take on apprentices as a condition of public funding.
• An extra £1.5bn on housing.
• An extra 1,200 council homes before Christmas.