The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has released it’s ‘Housebuilding Market Study: Final Report,’ which confirms what anybody who deals with planning already knows; that the housing crisis is caused by the planning process and government failure.
Richard Beresford, Chief Executive of the National Federation of Builders (NFB), said: “Planning should be enabling homes, better places and competition which benefits not just Britain, but the British consumer. The CMA has correctly identified that the UK planning system does the opposite.”
As well as pouring cold water on many criticisms made towards housebuilders, the CMA report disproved the landbanking myth, highlighted the need for better resourcing of planning departments and total planning reform, plus a need to support small and medium sized builders (SMEs).
Rico Wojtulewicz, Head of Policy, and Market Insight for the NFB and House Builders Association (HBA), said:
“The CMA report has confirmed that a broken planning process is the reason we have a lack of social housing, why big builders build too many of our new homes and SMEs are shut out, that homes are in the wrong places and too expensive, there are some issues with quality, and we don’t do placemaking.”
None of this is new or uncontroversial but the UK needed this CMA report to keep hammering home the reality that politicians of all colours are the reason we have a housing and placemaking crisis. It’s time they stopped blaming builders and instead, were held accountable for the mess they have caused and keep causing.”