Lack of new housing could undermine the economic benefits of HS2

Planning expert Stuart Niatkus says we need to build homes in the right places to reap the rewards of HS2's effect on the economy
Put new-builds in the right placesPut new-builds in the right places
Put new-builds in the right places

The benefits of HS2, the high-speed rail link connecting London to Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester, which was recently given the go-ahead by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, is predicted to boost the Yorkshire economy.

However, Stuart Natkus, planning director at planning and design consultancy Barton Willmore, believes the positive effects of HS2 could be undermined by a lack of suitable housing in the right areas. Here, he explains why: “To become the catalyst for regeneration and new jobs we’re told it could be, HS2 needs to be supported by new housing for our growing workforce.

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On paper, the government’s latest Housing Delivery Test, the annual measurement of how many homes have been constructed in each local authority area, shows many Yorkshire councils are on track to satisfy official home building targets.

“However, the data masks a big problem that has continued to get worse, all while this big opportunity for Yorkshire is heading down the tracks. If the government wants to “level-up” the North, it should now take a look at the mismatch between how many homes it requires councils to deliver and how many are really needed to fuel growth ambitions.

“The Housing Delivery Test does not adequately assess the number of new homes that areas need. In many cases, councils have adopted Local Plans that identify much higher housing needs to support economic growth potential.

Local authorities in Barnsley, Harrogate, Wakefield and East Riding of Yorkshire look to be surpassing the test. Take Barnsley for example. According to the latest statistics the council has delivered more housing than its requirement since 2016, surpassing the test target by as much as 110 per cent. Over the last three years it has seen between 850 and 988 homes built each year. In fact, Barnsley has a yearly target of 1,134 homes written into its adopted Local Plan and supporting objectives to this include ‘widening the choice of high quality homes’ and ‘improving the conditions in which people live, work, travel and take leisure’

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“Similarly, Leeds has an adopted a Core Strategy that says it needs 54,352 homes between 2017 and 2033. That’s 3,397 new homes each year. Since 2016, just 8,524 new homes have been built, which is only 84 per cent of Leeds City Council’s own target. However, by the Housing Delivery Test measure it has delivered 109 per cent of its target.

“Some councils are even using the lower government targets to review their Local Plan and reduce the housing requirement. Hambleton is a good example. According to the Housing Delivery Test, it is delivering a whopping 243 per cent of its requirement. The council is now about to submit a revised Local Plan that will substantially reduce its original new homes target that was supposed to underpin economic growth.

“Meanwhile in York, the council is not even meeting the government’s requirement, never mind its actual need. The lack of an agreed Local Plan isn’t helping.

“Yorkshire is rightly ambitious about stimulating jobs growth. For example, the Leeds City Region Strategic Economic Plan shows that we are already attracting top-level skilled workers across the digital, energy, health and professional services sectors.

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“We must recognise that housing is a foundation for economic growth and we must not underestimate the housing provision that will be needed for our growing workforce. While the latest house building statistics might tick a box in Westminster, they are covering up the real story, which is that Yorkshire could be left behind if it doesn’t build enough new homes.

“A study commissioned by Homes for the North, an alliance of 17 housing associations across the North of England, showed two million new homes are needed by 2050 in order to support the ambitions of the Northern Powerhouse Independent Economic Review. The government also continues its ambition to deliver 300,000 homes a year, by the mid-2020s.

“Of course, Yorkshire should and could, play a major role in providing those homes.

“This government may argue its requirements are intended as a lower minimum and that councils should aim beyond them, but the evidence continues to show that councils are treating the minimum as a target.

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HS2 presents a golden opportunity for Yorkshire to attract inward investment, offer greater mobility to employees and improve connectivity for our supply chains but without more new homes being built to support this growth, I believe that we are on a slow train to nowhere.”

*Initiatives that could help boost housebuilding in rural areas, where affordable homes are needed, say the Country Land and Business Association, which is calling for the government to get rid of red tape and complicated tax rules to allow more affordable homes to be built in villages.

A report by the Royal Society of Arts has suggested that if 10 homes were built in every village in England, then the rural housing crisis would be eradicated.

Ensuring developers build within a set time frame after being given planning permission could also help boost new housing numbers.

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The number of planning permissions for new homes granted by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority is running at a high, but new housing completions remain low. The latest figures show that in the year to the end of March 2019, only 25 new homes were built in the Yorkshire Dales National Park even though the number of new housing permissions stood at 68.

There are now almost 600 uncompleted permissions or allocations for new housing units in the National Park

Member Champion for Development Management for the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, Jim Munday, said: “The reason for the shortage of new affordable and market housing in the Yorkshire Dales National Park lies with the slow rate of building in the Park and not with any lack of planning permissions.

“There is not enough investment in the sort of small-scale, affordable housing schemes that we need, in part because it’s cheaper to build on large sites outside the National Park in places like Skipton and Catterick Garrison. There is also evidence that landowners are not prepared to release land at a price that would make development viable.”

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