New Barker housing commission has sent initial recommendations from its housing supply review to housing minister

Kate Barker has said that most indicators of housing market health are worse today than they were 20 years ago and that the supply of new social rent homes has declined. 

In her letter to Matthew Pennycook MP, the new housing minister, Barker has recommended that the government reinstate the National Housing and Planning Advice Unit “as soon as possible” to create a more robust approach to mandatory housing targets.

Another initial recommendation is that the government establish a cross-departmental implementation unit within the cabinet office to oversee housing policy delivery, coordinate with key stakeholders like the Bank of England, and engage with financial and utility regulators.

Dame_Kate_Barker

Barker carried out a review of the housing sector for the then Labour government two decades ago

Barker’s memo to the government, which contains 18 recommendations covering planning, funding, and implementation, says that “despite strong support for her original report, a recent review by the Home Builders Federation (HBF) found that only 11 of its 36 recommendations are currently in place”.

It adds: “Sadly, most indicators of housing market health are worse today than they were 20 years ago. In particular, there has been a failure to link new housing with infrastructure delivery and also, since the financial crisis, a further decline in the supply of new social rent homes.”

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Some of the early recommendations outlined in Dame Kate Barker’s memo:

Implementation

  • Reinstate the National Housing and Planning Advice Unit (NHPAU) as soon as possible to develop a more robust approach to mandatory housing targets at the strategic level.
  • Establish a cross-departmental Implementation Unit at the Cabinet Office to coordinate housing policy delivery across government and to engage with key stakeholders such as the Bank of England and financial and utility regulators.

Funding

  • Streamline existing funding pots and processes, replacing wasteful and divisive short-term competitive funding model for small pots with longer-term, needs-based funding formulae.
  • Recognise the critical role of institutional investment into housing, by creating a level playing field for tax, and clarity of vision about the delivery of future developments. 
  • Reform the current system of developer contributions through Section 106 and CIL, with a particular goal to deliver more affordable housing, instead of implementing the proposed Infrastructure Levy. 

Planning

  • Restore a more effective mandatory approach to Strategic Planning at the sub-regional/city region level to support the plan-led system and use planners for spatial planning rather than regulatory development management functions.   
  • Establish a comprehensive network of spatial planning teams across authorities to boost skills, capacity and resources across planning teams.
  • Significantly boost the supply of small and medium sites and delivery by SME and community-led developers through specific amendments to the NPPF, for example, by supporting Permission in Principle. 
  • Commission an independent review of the Metropolitan Green Belt to identify strategic opportunities for growth, including new or expanded towns.
  • Rethink the role of Homes England as a master developer potentially working with Development Corporations.

In March, economist Barker was appointed by think tank Radix, with the support of law firm Shoosmiths, to lead a new inquiry into England’s housing supply.

This new inquiry marks 20 years since Barker’s previous review on housing supply and land use planning, which she conducted for the last Labour government.

On funding, Barker said that existing funding pots should be streamlined “replacing a wasteful and divisive short-term competitive funding model for small pots with longer-term, needs-based funding formulae”.

Regarding planning, Barker’s housing commission stated that the government should significantly boost the supply of small and medium sites and delivery by SME and community-led developers through specific amendments to the National Planning Policy Framework, for example, by supporting permission in principle.

A further recommendation put to the government is that the Metropolitan Green Belt be independently reviewed to identify strategic opportunities for growth, including new or expanded towns.

Echoing the recommendations from the public bodies review of Homes England published in April, Barker proposed reassessing Homes England’s role as a master developer and exploring potential opportunities to work with Development Corporations.

The commission’s final report is to be published in autumn this year.

The Commission members:

  • Dame Kate Barker CBE (chair), chair of the 2004 ‘Barker Review’ on Housing Supply and the subsequent review on Land Use Planning (2006); author of Housing: Where’s the Plan (2014) and former member of the National Infrastructure Commission
  • Lord Richard Best, social housing leader and member of House of Lords Built Environment Committee
  • Richard Blyth, head of policy at the Royal Town Planning Institute
  • Paul Brocklehurst, chair of the Land, Planning and Development Federation and former head of Catesby Estates
  • Tom Chance, CEO, Community Land Trust Network
  • Rick de Blaby, CEO, Get Living
  • Melissa Mean, director at WeCanMake, a community-based project to create affordable homes by unlocking micro-sites for development Alexandra Notay, Independent Commissioner at the Geospatial Commission
  • Elsie Owusu OBE, founding chair of the Society of Black Architects
  • Vicky Pryce, chair of Radix Fellows and leading economist
  • Ben Rich, CEO, Radix Big Tent and former secretary to Lord Rogers’ Urban Taskforce
  • Dr Catriona Riddell, expert in strategic planning issues working with local authorities
  • Jackie Sadek, director at Urban Strategy and urban regeneration expert
  • Andrew Taylor FRTPI, group planning director at Vistry Group
  • Lisa Tye, partner and living sector co-head at Shoosmiths
  • Doreen Wright, commercial director at A2Dominion Group

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