Following the unveiling of the Government’s Autumn Budget and Spending Review, we’ve responded to the widely trailed housing measures included in the Chancellor’s speech.
On the residential property developer tax, Matthew Pratt, Group CEO, said: “Safety is at the heart of everything we do, so we welcome the introduction of the Residential Property Developer Tax and the support it will provide for homeowners. However, it’s vital that responsibility for the issue – and the levy itself – is borne by all key stakeholders in the construction industry including developers, housebuilders, manufacturers and external contractors.
“However, organisations involved with greater numbers of these buildings ought to bear the brunt, otherwise this starts to feel like a rigid penalty against the very businesses building the much-needed homes the country needs.
“The current focus of the remediation fund centres on England and owners of affected properties in Wales will be eagerly awaiting details of support available in their area.”
In terms of the Government’s intentions around sustainable homebuilding and planning, Matthew Pratt added: “It is encouraging to see the Chancellor earmark funds for helping homeowners to make their properties more energy efficient, but the current financial pledges still represent something of a drop in the ocean in terms of what needs to be achieved.
“The new homes industry has been leading the way in meeting the Government’s ambitions for sustainable energy-efficient housing stock, however it will be far more difficult to retrofit older homes with the heat pump subsidies barely scratching the surface of what will be required. However, the pledge to regenerate unused or derelict brownfield land echoes our commitment to turning such sites into thriving communities.
“Accelerating the rate of digitisation of the planning system is more good news and should improve efficiencies when it comes to building more new homes every year.”
Finally, on the development of skills and education in the construction industry, Matthew Pratt concluded: “It is vitally important to secure a strong pipeline of future talent in construction, so it’s really positive to see the emphasis today on T-levels, apprenticeships and traineeships. The pandemic has the potential to be a turning point for the level of esteem in which certain career paths are held, as more traditional academic routes are not always right for the individual, nor do they always meet economic need.
“The Government must ensure practical support on the ground for distributing funds and ensuring the necessary infrastructure to deliver these courses. We’ve offered more career opportunities to school and university leavers in the past 12 months than ever before, including taking on 111 apprentices, to ensure that young people don’t miss out on opportunities as a result of the pandemic.”
