Ahead of the General Election, HBF recently published our blueprint for the next government, setting out five key areas that need swift action if we are to work towards resolving the housing crisis.

At the heart of our approach are measures to fix the planning system. Despite huge increases in housing supply throughout the 2010s, the planning system has been a barrier for builders throughout, due to years of under-funding and under-resourcing of local planning departments. At a local level, the actual process of taking a site through the planning process has never been more costly, risky or complex. Delays and uncertainty in planning timescales and decision-making is the single biggest reason why small and medium enterprise (SME) home builders struggle.