Select committee: Built Environment Committee
Conclusion 130
1st Report - Meeting housing demand
Published 10 Jan 2022
Built Environment Committee Meeting the UK’s housing demand All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
We heard how difficult it can be to ensure that a wide range of voices is heard on proposed developments. The Royal Institute of British Architects said that “Older homeowners are more likely to be politically engaged and vote in local elections” and are “more likely to believe that too many homes are being built in their area compared to renters and younger people.” 206 On the other hand, the Centre for Ageing Better suggested that moving planning to digital platforms risks “disenfranchising older people who are disproportionality impacted by social and digital exclusion.” 207 The Planning White Paper said “New digital engagement processes will make it radically easier to raise views about and visualise emerging proposals whilst on-the-go on a smart phone”. 208 Professor Flora Samuel recommended “A clear, holistic, map-based system that looks at community assets and needs”, adding that “Technology will allow for the emergent field of adaptive planning using real time and constant data input to assist with the making of transparent, evidence-based and democratic decisions.” 209 Neighbourhood planning
From: Built Environment Committee, 1st Report - Meeting housing demand, 10 January 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 28 March 2022 (deadline 10 March 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government welcomes the Committee's report and says it is "taking action on a number of the issues identified", agreeing with some recommendations while disagreeing with others, including on home ownership schemes and the Apprenticeship Levy.
- It "disagrees with the report's assessment that homeownership schemes do not provide good value for money", citing independent evaluations and its own evaluation of Help to Buy.
- On older people's housing, it is launching a new taskforce "this year", chaired by the Minister for Housing, to look at better choice, quality and security of housing.
- It does "not intend to set out a proportion" of Affordable Homes Programme funding for social housing, though "around half" of the affordable homes are to be for social and affordable rent.
- On the Apprenticeship Levy it says it has "no plans to review" it. On planning fees it is "exploring options" to increase them, and on local plans it will make an announcement "in due course".