CPRE responds to consultation on government’s Housing White Paper
8th May 2017
CPRE has responded to the government’s housing white paper which sets out plans to reform the housing market and boost the supply of new homes in England.
The Campaign to Protect Rural England has submitted its response to the Department for Communities and Local Government consultation on the Housing White Paper, published in February 2017 – ‘Fixing our Broken Housing Market‘.
The consultation ended on 2 May.
The CPRE submission has been compiled following extensive consultation with the network of 43 branches (including CPRE Oxfordshire) and 8 regional groups around England.
Summary of CPRE’s response to the Housing White Paper:
CPRE believes that the key objectives that the Government should pursue, in relation to planning for housing, should be:
– Ensuring every part of the country has an up to date plan;
– Enforcing restrictions against building on land that is generally unsuitable, in particular Green Belts and other designated areas;
– Devising a standard approach to determining how many households will be formed across England in the coming years, and what their housing needs are (that is, above all, realistic);
– Reforming the proposed housing delivery test to shift the emphasis away from penalising local authorities and communities for housebuilders’ failure to deliver;
– Providing more resources for planning authorities; and
– Ensuring appropriate community engagement and consultation.
See: CPRE’s consultation response.
Affordable housing
Whilst there are many organisations and individuals committed to delivering affordable housing in Oxfordshire, we believe there is room for better communication and collaboration.
So, we took the opportunity of the Housing White Paper to co-organise a meeting with Oxfordshire Community Land Trust, calling together relevant groups to discuss common concerns.We are pleased that this led to a joint response from the Oxfordshire affordable housing sector, calling for affordable housing in perpetuity, based on a definition that an individual or household’s housing expenditure should not exceed 30% of their income.
See the joint response below.
Need not Greed Oxfordshire
The Need not Greed Oxfordshire coalition of local community groups from across the county (now 33 members strong, including CPRE Oxfordshire) also submitted a response to the Housing White Paper.
NNGO’s response focuses on four key areas of concern to the coalition, namely:
1. Five Year Housing Land Supply rules & Changes to NPPF (paras 14 and 49);
2. Housing Delivery Test;
3. Land value capture; and
4. Affordable Housing.
See: NNGO’s response on the coalition website.
CPRE Oxforshire, 8 May