THE HOUSING AND
CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY:
WILL NEW MEASURES MOVE
BRITAIN FORWARD?
Dr Francine Baker
Senior Lecturer, Construction Law Property Law
and Planning Law
Are we really talking about Britain?
Influences on Development of Centralised
Planning system from Decentralised
Industrial Revolution-Urban overcrowding
 Need for sanitary housing

Development of Planning, Housing and
Building legislation in Britain
Why recent change from centralised to
decentralised planning, housing approach?
Impact of recent strategies accompanying
Localism trend
Influences on Development of
Centralised Planning system
Social/Eco Problems 19thc- early 20th c
Population of England & Wales:
1801 – 8.9 million
1901 – 32.5 million- migration rural to
urbans: cities grew
Population of Scotland
1801-1,608,000.
1841-2,620,000
1900 -4,437,000
Population of Ireland
1841 census -8,175,124 people in the
provinces of
Connacht, Leinster,
Munster and Ulster.
1881 census drops 3 million to 5,174,836famine and emigration
1926- fall to a recorded historical low of
4,228,55
HTTP://WWW.IRTHEBEST.COM/INDUSTRY_INDUS
TRIAL_LIFE.HTML
Housing for the poor was the worst problem and grew worse. It seems likely that
two thirds of the London population was composed of families living in one room.
Irish immigrants in particular were crowded together in the 'rookeries' - 'so
called', as Thomas Beames explained in 1850 from, an analogy
WELCOME LIBRARY, LONDON
AN ATTIC OCCUPIED BY A FAMILY OF 10, BETHNALGREEN. ILLUSTRATED TIMES, NEW SERIES, III (1863),
FROM THE VICTORIAN CITY, IMAGES AND REALITIES,
DYOS AND WOLFF (1973)
HTTP://WWW.BBC.CO.UK/HISTORY/BRITISH/VICT
ORIANS/BSURFACE_01.SHTML
AT DINNER IN A LONDON WORKHOUSE (C)
 urban
overcrowding-industrial
revolutione.g., England and Wales- 1851 -around half the
population living in urban areas- (by 1911 79% of
the population lived in towns - 43.8% of the
population lived in 36 large cities (over 100,000
people)
 inadequate
water & sewerage
systems
 UK
Epidemics – cholera 1832
1840’s-potato famine- migration
Key concerns –housing, public health
 1840
Select Committee on the Health of Towns
 1845 the Royal Commission on the State of
Large Towns
Public Health Act of 1848-consid. revolutionary
- Central Board of Health (local Boards of Health
mandatory in places where death rate exceeded
23 per 1,000)Public Health Act 1875 Act consolidated, including
building regulation
-national application
-LA’s power to ensure standards drainage, make byelaws size
of rooms, width of street, space round
A similar Act was passed for Ireland in 1878 and in
Scotland in 1897
 Nuisance
Removal Act 1855
 LA could ask Judge for order to
make house safe and habitable or
prohibit its use
 The
Sanitary Act 1866 gave to local
authorities increased powers to
provide house drainage and water
supplies
 Could compel connections with public
sewers
1885 Royal Commission on the Housing
of the Working Classes - revealed


overcrowding in inner city areas.
- Legislation enacted to re-house people displaced
by slum clearance
- Around 28 model housing societies homes for 4% of
London’s population – mainly better off working people
– tenement blocks not popular - compared to army
barracks but had very good amenities for the period
1890 Housing of the Working Classes Act
- allowed London’s local councils to build houses
as well as clearing away slums - councils had to
re-house at least half the people displaced by slum
clearance.
 - start of councils providing people with houses for
rent although very few were built before WW1

DEVELOPMENT OF PLANNING, HOUSING AND
BUILDING LEGISLATION IN BRITAIN
By mid 19thc-patchwork of local authorities
End 19thc- system of local government
- urban & district councils
Call for state intervention- National
Housing Reform Council 1900(name changed
name to . . . .Town Planning Council in 1909)
First planning legislation in the UK –
Housing and Town Planning Act of 1909.

Similar legislation operating in Germany and
Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands passed
similar Acts at about the same time
The aim was to improve the living and housing
conditions in the growing urban areas. However,
the 1909 Act was overtaken by World War 1.
 There was some planning in Scotland in the
1920s and 1930s, though it was mainly confined
to the layout of new suburbs.
 Under 1909 Act wide powers given to local
authorities to build new houses, clear substandard
housing
- s. 54 discretionary power to prepare
schemes for land ‘in course of or ‘likely to be
used for building’

First quarter 20th century – Planning Failure
•VERY FEW PREPARED APPROVED
SCHEMES
•Uneven social/eco develop
between regions- call for a national
planning system
•investigation through three
reports
Second Quarter -2nd WW physical destruction
sprawling urban development of 1930s and the
need for post-war reconstruct.
- consensus for need for centralised
planning authority and national policies to
balance distribution of transport, agriculture,
industry, housing etc needs throughout
country agriculture, led to . . .
 Town
and Country Planning Act 1947
-planning mandatory
Two main elements:
1.development plan-shows where future
development should take place;
2.development control, to ensure proposals
comply with the plan.
1. Created ‘county’ planning authorities –
must make developments for area defining
land use
 2. All land was subject to planning control
 3. Wide powers given to local authorities
 4. Development charges for new use of land

E and Wales: since 1947 Act
-changes but the scheme remains basically the same today.
Changes to 1947 Act:
- Town and Country Planning Act 1990
1. number and size of local authorities and
functions has changed
2. requirement of environmental impact
assessments re major development proposals
3.more enforcement provisions and stronger
control over preservation of sites of
architectural or historic interest
4. financial provisions changed
BUILDING REGULATIONS



Scotland was the first country in the United
Kingdom to adopt national regulations.
The Building (Scotland) Act in 1959 created the
power to do so.
The first set of Building Regulations was
published in 1963 and came into force in 1964.
England and Wales followed suit.
Republic of Ireland –
The Town and Regional Planning Act
1934 created local planning authorities- little
interest was shown
- replaced by Local Government (Planning and
Development) Act of 1963- included the power to
create national building regulations.
Planning and Development Act of 2000
consolidated updated legislation and regulations
-reflects demands arising from economic
growth, rising public concern in the area of
environment .

Town and country planning and housing.
powers have been devolved from the UK
government to the
Northern Ireland Assembly,
Scottish Parliament
Welsh Assembly.
So each country of the United Kingdom is
responsible for Town and country
planning and housing in their country
AIM of a planning system
- who can build what, where and how.
- that buildings and structures that the country needs
(including homes, offices, schools, hospitals, roads, train
lines, power stations, water pipes, reservoirs) get built in
the right place and to the right standards.
but the emphasis as to who makes the decisions
is changing
- from cities to central government to local
planners and communities- (from a
centralised to decentralised system)
THE UK GOVERNMENT’S CASE FOR
DECENTRALISATION: LOCALISM
The Uk Localism Act is supposed to
make the planning system clearer,
more democratic, and more effective.
(This Act mainly concerns E and Wales)


Planning did not give members of the public enough
influence over decisions. Resented re decisions and
plans being foisted on them.
a confrontational and adversarial system where many
applications end up being fought over.
Key changes include:
1. Out –
several layers of planning bureaucracy are to be
scrapped, including removal of this regional tier of
planning policy Regional Spatial Strategies (set housing
targets for different areas outside London.) Local
communities had relatively limited opportunities to
influence the strategies.
In –
increases the importance of local level policy against
backdrop of a ‘National Planning Policy Framework’
- more opportunities for the public to get involved in
planning system but “presumption in favour of
sustainable development”
-a new designation to protect local green areas;
Effect on Housing
Local Planning Authorities will be
responsible for –
1.establishing the level of housing provision in
their area;
and
2.identifying a long term supply of housing
land without having to consider regional
housing targets.
2. Under the Act control given over housing assets
and finances from 1 April 2012 to councils.
England has171 councils with housing stock,
including those Councils that have set up arm’s
length management organisations, or ALMOs.
(through changes to the HRA) (353 councils in
England, 22 Wales,32 Scotland 26 N Ireland).


Councils can now keep all the rental income they
get from tenants and decide how to spend it.
Price waterhouse Coopers 2011 study -councils
are expected to generate more than £300bn of
rental income over the next 30 years. They will be
limited to what they can borrow
3. local authorities to focus on reporting progress
making plans to local communities instead
of
to central gov.
4. Decisions regarding nationally significant
infrastructure projects such as major train
lines and power stations restored to
government ministers
- Previously made by an unelected public
body, called the Infrastructure Planning
Commission. It also made national policy. It
was not directly accountable to the public
5. strengthen the role of local communities in
planning-new requirement for developers to
consult local communities before
submitting
planning applications for certain
developments.

For example, large scale developments:
- residential development which could provide
200 or
more new residential units, or (where the
number of residential units to be constructed is not
specified) with a site ares of 4 hectares or more
- other developments which would provide 10,000
square metres or more of new floorspace, or with a
site area of two hectares or more
Scottish planning system
Planning Act 2008 and recent proposals following broadly
similar E & W localism approach
AIM: primary-to speed up decision-making + increase the
efficiency of local planning departments.
-Same rationale - Northern Ireland Planning
Act
2011 but full transfer of powers to councils will
not
occur the Review of Public Administration
programme implemented in 2015
Example of similarities with E and W:
1. requirements re any major developments – such as schools
and bridges before plans could be submitted.
(a) Publish a formal notice in the local press about the
proposals.
(b) Hold a public event where members of the public
can make comments
(c) Consult the neighbours i.e. owners/cooperies
within 20 meters of the site
(d) Consult the community councils/residents
groups as appropriate
(e) Produce a report of the consultation undertaken
Example
2. Scotland has also devolved much of the decision
making to local councils.
BUT 2011 Audit Scotland
see- http://www.auditscotland.gov.uk/media/article.php?id=176
1.the planning process not faster and the number of
planning applications fallen by almost a third (29%).
 2.
expenditure on processing planning applications
increase 17 per cent in real terms between 2004/05
and 2009/10- from £6.7 million to £20.8 million- met
from councils’ central budgets
 3.
but improved coordination between local
planning managers and central government
policymakers.
Get Britain Building scheme
-strategy initiated by a coalition of organisations
within the construction sector, the British
Precast, the Builders Merchants Federation,
the Federation of Master Builders and the
Modern Masonry Alliance
 impacts on E & Wales, Northern Ireland & Scotland.
 AIM:
create a new business environment to
help the UK construction industry.

England - fund (initially £420m increased on 19 March
2012 to £570m.) launched 21 Nov. 2012
: 224 shortlisted schemes will enter a due diligence process
before any contracts are signed.(Includes 2000 affordable
homes).
- Aim: get sites restarted from June this year, protect and create
jobs and unlocking more than 15,500 new homes by December
2014.
KEY PROPOSALS
 help
developers "unblock" stalled housing
schemesCriticism- yet it has directed 40% of the
fund to the large housebuilders, which,
judging from the financial results of volume
builders, are much less in need of funding
than the smaller, lower-volume builders.
 Planning
reviewed
obligations on stalled projects
KEY PROPOSALS
 Up
to £150m to help bring empty housing
back into use
–
Crit- Peter Cosmetatos, director of finance
at the British Property Federation,
said measures are too little too late and
the £150 million ‘seems like very small
beer after years of preparatory work’.
KEY PROPOSALS
 add
£270 million to the growing places fund
-developers may apply to it if they can show
promoting the delivery of jobs and housing
infrastructure to enable eco. and new housing
development.
(Growing places was originally set up as a £500
million fund. )
Crit. weighting of distribution of the pot
towards the greater south east area goes
against the policy of rebalancing the
economy
- but much already gone to London £70m
 Mortgages
of up to 95% of the value of new
homes to be offered with government
underwriting part of the risk- supported by
The Home Builders Federation and The
Council of Mortgage Lenders
-New Buy Guarantee scheme,
announced the 11 March 2012
-the Government guarantees part of a
homebuyer’s mortgage, allowing them to
take out much larger loans than they might
otherwise be eligible for.
-The new scheme is also supposed to boost
the construction industry by up to 50,000
jobs and should cover the sale of up to 100,000
homes
CRITICISMS
 NewBuy
-
Guarantee initiative pointless
unless they rates are cheaper than other
already-existing low deposit deals
You can already obtain 95% mortgages
with comparable interest rates of 5% plus.
 "It's
more of a gimmick” tho it may help some
in the construction industry.
 But it will encourage people to buy new
properties so that old property won't be
sold and the chain will stop
CRITICISMS
 unlikely
to be of lasting benefit to anyone
encouraged to take on excessive debt
before interest rates rise from their
current historic low and then more
homebuyers will find themselves in
negative equity
 will
result in lenders providing loans with
significantly lower deposits than the
20 per cent or more that is typically
demanded. This means taxpayers will
be liable for losses when borrowers
default and homes are repossessed.
Red Tape Challenge -from April 2011
until April 2013 – from 12th January 2012 a
review of over 200 building regulations that sets
standards for the design and construction of
buildings, and construction related regulations on
contracts.



AIM: increase and speed up the supply of private
rented and social housing without compromising
on quality, security or sustainability.
The Government is consulting on a wide range of regulations, some
extend to the whole of the UK and some are limited to England,
The UK Government is not considering or consulting
on regulations that are the responsibility of the
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland but will
encourage devolved administrations to see the benefits
of the deregulation agenda.
 200
regulations are covered by the
Housing and Construction Red
Tape Challenge
a new one-in, one-out rule, meaning Ministers have
to identify an existing piece of regulation to be
scrapped for every new one proposed;
 a strengthened role for the Regulatory Policy
Committee to review the costs and benefits of new
regulation proposals, and
 a three-year moratorium on domestic regulation for
very small firms and start-ups.

Criticism- many regulations have been passed
down from Brussels which means the government is
limited in its ability to simply "scrap" them. Does
tweaking or abolishing the few outdated, largely
ignored regulations really add up to the £1bn
saving for businesses being promised by the
government?
CONCLUSION?

Housing
- Inadequate measures- England
- facade of centralisation assistance to home
buyers and affordable housing
- great burden of admin, financial know how, and
housing costs largely left to local councils with
repercussions for the taxpayers
-other countries- in particular, Scotland, has
followed suite to some extent and not entirely
successful