Housebuilder brands plans to fine developers for delays as ‘double standards’
The housing developer behind the ‘world’s best property’ has criticised new government proposals to penalise housebuilders for not building homes quickly enough.
Kevin Stevens, president and founder of the E5 Group which includes E5 Living in the UK, says the plans to fine developers are "double standards" that ignore the real barriers to housing delivery.
Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has announced plans to require developers to commit to specific delivery timeframes before receiving planning permission, with financial penalties "worth thousands per unbuilt home" for those who fall behind schedule.
But Mr Stevens, who developed the World’s Best Property in 2022, claims the plans fail to address the systemic delays in the planning system.
"This is just double standards… how can they have planners repeatedly failing to make decisions in target timeframes, yet want to fine housebuilders for delays which often are not of their making?
“What about time frames to discharge planning conditions? Time frames after receipt of planning for local authorities to sign off S38, S278, S104 agreements? Time frames to have statutory authorities provide and connect their services?"
"Then any developer has something to work to. Assuming of course, by the time they crack on with all of this that the market hasn't changed and then potentially it no longer pays to carry a scheme forward."
E5 Living is currently delivering housing developments in Lincolnshire, including more than 100 houses and bungalows on King's Park Village in Scartho, Grimsby and 71 high-specification, energy-efficient homes in Market Rasen, north east Lincolnshire.
Mr Stevens added: "The government's new approach fails to recognise the complexity of bringing new homes to market and places unfair burdens on developers while failing to address the systemic issues that cause delays."
He highlighted recent research from the Federation of House Builders which show the SME housebuilding sector continues to decline, with 86% of housebuilders looking to wind up in the next five years.
With the government targeting 1.5 million new homes by the end of parliament, Mr Stevens believes these penalties will make that goal "more and more unrealistic daily".
"What we need is a holistic approach to housing delivery that addresses bottlenecks throughout the system, not just penalising the developers who are actually trying to deliver homes.
“The current proposals risk further reducing the number of SME developers willing to invest in new housing, which would be counterproductive to the government's housing targets," Stevens concluded.
E5 Living has called for a more balanced approach that recognises the complexities of the housebuilding process and addresses delays at every stage of development, not just construction.