NFB blasts government for housing micro-management

The National Federation of Builders' (NFB) House Builders Association has slammed the government's Planning Policy Statement for Housing (PPS3), calling it "extraordinarily dirigiste".

Roger Humber, an analyst at the association, said PPS3, in combination with the other PPS for climate change and the Code for Sustainable Homes, had taken "a massive step forward in the prescription and micro-management of the private sector's output". The Home Builders Federation (HBF) also warned that PPS3 may be over-ambitious and risks frustrating housing delivery.

HBF chief executive Stewart Baseley sounded a note of caution over the wide range of policy objectives for housing, which encouraged local authorities to turn down developments that do not meet high enough standards of design and do not make sufficient provision for family housing, nor make enough use of brownfield land.

But he was less critical than Humber, broadly welcoming the policy statement, set out by housing and planning minister Yvette Cooper. Baseley said he was pleased with the requirement for councils to plan their housing strategies 15 years ahead to ensure a rolling five-year supply of sites to prevent housing projects being held-up.

[Contract Journal, 06  December 2006, p 2]