New UK regulations have been proposed this morning to help smaller housebuilders, including Homes England releasing land exclusively to SMEs and £100 million in 'accelerator loans'.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner says her Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is today "taking urgent action to make the system simpler, fairer and more cost-effective, so smaller housebuilders can play a crucial role in our journey to get Britain building".
The package of reforms is aimed at streamlining planning, easing regulation and improving access to finance, with the department saying that smaller firms have seen their market share shrink since the 1980s, when SME builders delivered 40% of the country’s homes.
Minor developments of up to nine homes will benefit from faster planning decisions handled by officers rather than committees.
Alongside this, there will be reduced biodiversity requirements, while a new "medium site" category will apply to developments of 10 to 49 homes and will face simplified rules and be exempt from the Building Safety Levy.
A new National Housing Delivery Fund, to be detailed at the upcoming spending review, will support long-term financing tools, including revolving credit facilities.
A pilot scheme, the Small Sites Aggregator, will run in Bristol, Sheffield and Lewisham to unlock smaller urban plots and attract investment for social rent housing. The initiative builds on Lloyds Banking Group’s Social Housing Initiative.
Further support includes the SME Accelerator Loans, £10 million for local councils to hire planning specialists, and a £1.2 million 'PropTech innovation fund' to help small builders adopt new tools and data solutions.
The reforms are part of the government’s aims to build 1.5 million homes.