3 May 2011
Housing minister Grant Shapps has promised to free more government land for people to build their own homes.
Speaking at the Grand Designs Live show today, Shapps said that the government would make a number of publicly owned brownfield sites, including plots, available to builders and people who want to build their own homes.
‘There is scope to significantly increase the number of self built homes in the UK – both for individual households and for community-driven projects,’ Shapps said.
He added that he wanted to bring self-build into the ‘mainstream’ rather than it being the ‘preserve of the privileged few’.
The government will earmark public sector land for home builders through its previously announced ‘Build Now, Pay Later' scheme, with made plots available exclusively for self-builders.
According to government figures, one in five new homes is built by individual developers. However, the credit crisis and recession have deterred self-builders, with the number of completed self-built units dropping from about 20,000 in 2006 to just 14,000 last year.
Shapps said he wanted more land to be made available – both private and public – and called on private investors to release plots, and for local authorities and housing associations to show their support.
Stewart Baseley, executive chair of the Home Builders Federation, said: ‘The government simply must address the acute housing supply crisis. The public sector owns around 40% of potential residential land, and so moves to release surplus land for development are a positive step and we need to see the process quickly accelerated.’
