NEARLY 200 building firms have written to Rishi Sunak, slamming the PM for strangling Britain’s housing market and putting 800,000 jobs at risk.
Small and medium size developers will march on Downing Street tomorrow demanding Mr Sunak rips up archaic planning rules that block desperately-needed homes being built.
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The firms also want red tape and taxes slashed, arguing recent regulation has added £20,000 to the cost of building every new home.
Construction leaders argue they’re battling “multiple existential threats to the survival of our businesses”.
In a desperate plea to the PM, firms said: “It has never been more difficult to be an SME developer.
“It is vital that action is taken to support those of us that remain, so that we stand a chance of surviving and playing our part in addressing the housing crisis, delivering economic growth and preserving the 800,000 roles the industry supports.
“Prime Minister, your government’s current and proposed policies are devastating our industry.
“It is not too late to turn things around. Please help us before even more damage is done.”
Shocking research from the Home Builders Federation shows 9 in 10 firms are furious with the government’s stance on housing.
Around 78% of small builders are now considering scaling back construction activities.
And 87% are thinking of changing direction to focus on commercial development instead of much-needed new homes.
The Federation says interventions by NIMBY – not in my backyard – MPs and house-blocking quango Natural England will cause stock to fall to its lowest level since World War Two.
Supply could drop from 233,000 last year to below 120,000 homes per annum in the coming years – well under half the PM’s target of 300k.
In Westminster, Stewart Baseley, Executive Chairman of the Home Builders Federation said:“SMEs are the lifeblood of all industries, but in house building we are seeing them being driven out by an increasingly anti-development, anti business policy environment.
“The planning process is grinding to a halt and regulatory costs are rocketing.”
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Kate Tait, Group Strategic Land and Planning Director at Cameron Homes, added: “As a family run regionally-based business, the uncertainty over land supply with planning permission is impacting on our ability to guarantee continuity of work and therefore retain our site based staff, subcontractors and supply chain.
“Without assurances of where they will be placed next, we risk losing long-serving staff to firms that can offer greater certainty of future work on larger sites.”
Responding to the letter, Shadow Housing Secretary Lisa Nandy said: “This devastating warning lays bare the scale of the Tory housing crisis.
“We cannot grow the economy or give families much-needed security without building more homes, but the Prime Minister has chosen to instead prioritise keeping his own party happy, and now small and medium-sized businesses are paying the price – with potentially devastating consequences for jobs, investment and young people.
“A Labour government will back the small housebuilders without whom we cannot fix the housing crisis.”
