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Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru |
National Assembly for Wales |
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Pwyllgor yr Economi, Seilwaith a Sgiliau |
Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee |
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Rhwystrau sy'n wynebu cwmnïau bach sy'n adeiladu cartefi |
Barriers facing small home building firms |
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EIS(5) BFSHBF01 |
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In response to your consultation regarding the above I would like to make the following comments for the committee to consider.
I run a small business undertaking new builds and building refurbishments in South Wales. I like many of my colleagues are getting very concerned about the disparity between England and Wales in terms of Planning regulations and access to new plot sites. I have already had discussions with the Chamber of Commerce as well as the House Builders Federation on my concerns as the situation is being quite dire for the survival of small building businesses such as mine.
I very much would like to join with Welsh Government in creating a new advisory group, which includes small builders/developers such as me, so we can participate more closely in policy decisions particularly on planning issues and stamp duty. Greater input from the sharp end needs to be encouraged, as nobody is better placed to help with the shortage of housing and the housing crisis. As well as running my business I also volunteer in a homeless charity and it’s becoming ever more obvious that we need to build ourselves out of this crisis by working together.
I have to pay 3% stamp duty on house that I want to purchase and refurbish as they are classed as a second home, even when they are owned by my limited company. This is a real barrier to renovating properties especially for low incomes households. Surely if it’s a business renovating property, especially empty property, then normal tax rules should apply. Could Tax rules be relaxed so that this stamp duty can be claimed back after the property has been sold by such a business?
Wales desperately needs to adopt legislatively the same legal system as operated in Scotland that stops such practices. In the past year alone I have had five sales ‘on just one house’ fall through just because the purchaser has changed his mind, leaving me with a large legal bill and not the necessary cash to invest in other property and the redundancy of my staff. We need to make the sellers financial offer legally binding on acceptance from the buyer. This system failure is a scourge for small developers.
I think there generally should be a root and branch overhaul of the planning system in an effort to make it as slim and nimble as possible. Regulation has just been heaped on regulation over the years without an understanding of combined impact and complexity. For example with the introduction of the water sprinkler legislation in Wales this was just bolted onto current fire regulations. Builders are not allowed to create fire designs where water sprinklers can be combined with other fire safety methods to create, a more complementary, and safer fire package in a house. Planning should be seen to help rather than hinder especially on low value sites where development needs to be encouraged.
1.
106/CIL payments. My understanding is that sites with less than 10
new properties are exempt in England. Any development work I
have in Monmouthshire for example has stopped as the Council
requires a 60% contribution to Social Housing from new builds.
However large builders on strategic building sites only have to
contribute 35%. This is totally unfair and totally unaffordable and
gives planning a bad name. Most local Authorities are forever
increasing their requirements from developers which hit the small
developer the hardest. A nationwide agreement with all Local
Authorities needs to be put in place with the same contributions
across the board as developers are increasingly being asked to fund
Council services by the back door.
2.
Conversion of barns/buildings. England I understand has seen
the permitted development rights expanded, for example the
conversion of buildings has expanded to include most stone barns.
In wales we have gone the other way with more regulation rather
than less. For instance Monmouthshire allows the conversion of more
modern buildings to Tourism use whilst Newport does not. More
consistency across the board is required.
3.
What ever happened to ‘presumption in favour of
development’. Gaining Planning permission even with Urban
Boundaries is getting ever more complex and unaffordable. Some
Local Authorities now refuse applications on the grounds that you
haven’t paid a pre-application fee, to show that you have
fully consulted them. This appears to be just another method to get
two fees for planning out of an applicant as well as increasing the
time they are allowed for determination.
4.
On one Complex build in Cardiff I have had a great amount of
support from Local Planners and the conditions on the planning
application have been measured and well thought out. However the
councils Tree officer has demanded that I provide numerous
surveys/drawings (eight in total) including a soil analysis for the
planting of 4 small trees. There should be as system where
‘at least’ such decisions could be independently
reviewed or questioned so that major investment is not lost through
what should be disproportionately minor issues.
5.
When Public authorities sell off public land they should not just
sell it to one of the big development companies. Local Authorities
often prefer to sell to one big developer as they see the CIL/106
contributions are the main prize and easiest to negotiate in one
large block. New large/medium sites should be broken up into
smaller chunks so that small builders and developers can have a
chance at purchase. Small builders such as me invest locally
in jobs materials, training and services whilst the big developers
procure often outside wales.
6. Local Authorities sometimes delay the registration of planning applications in order just to improve their 8 week planning determination rates for which they get Welsh Government incentives. This is an abuse of the system making planning applications process even slower.