Government proposals published at the end of May in its floated the idea of a 鈥榤edium鈥� sized site threshold of 10 to 49 homes. These sites would face rather more planning conditions than smaller sites but fewer than larger sites. Medium sites would be exempted from the building safety levy and simplified biodiversity net gain rules (BNG) for example.
SME builders loved the idea. The National Federation of Builders (NFB) even claimed credit for the policy proposal as it had been campaigning for years for this to help out the type of small-medium enterprises that make up its membership.
However, six weeks after publication of the policy proposals, doubts have started to appear.
The definition of the proposed medium-sized site is not just 10-49 residential units but also includes a maximum area measurement of one hectare. This could wreck everything, it is being argued.
Local planning authorities already set locally acceptable density policies and the increasing policy and development requirements on land use, such as drainage, biodiversity, grid, sewerage and active travel, mean that sites are regularly larger than one hectare. Having this area-based threshold means that many SMEs would miss out on the medium sized site definition, alongside its introduction of planning proportionality, say the NFB and sister organisation the House Builders Association (HBA).
HBA chair Michael Parinchy, who is construction manager at ProBuild 360 Ltd, said: 鈥淲ith minimum densities, housing mix policies, and other obligations like BNG, highways, SUDs etc, hectares, or other area measurements, are not a good metric to determine site size category.
鈥淔or SMEs, the commercial viability of a development is calculated using plot numbers, so to use other thresholds and measurements would be a misunderstanding of how things work at this scale and counterproductive to the real-world activation of the SME housebuilding sector.鈥�
Rico Wojtulewicz, head of policy and market insight for the NFB and HBA, said: 鈥淲e are incredibly grateful that the government has listened to industry by recognising the dwelling numbers that SMEs typically deliver on single sites. However, the inclusion of a measured area threshold risks excluding most SMEs from the proportionate planning reforms associated with a medium sized site.鈥�
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
