Housing: Modern Methods of Construction

Lord Banner Excerpts

Thursday 5th September 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Banner (Con)]

My Lords, I declare my interest as a King’s Counsel practising in planning law. I have many clients in the housebuilding and construction sector. I am also chair of the advisory group at the property developer SAV.

There is widespread recognition that MMC have a range of important benefits, including, in particular, faster and greener construction of the new homes this country desperately needs. It is therefore both curious and regrettable that this widespread recognition has not yet translated into widespread uptake. I draw attention to the role that the planning system could play in stimulating the critical mass of pipeline and demand necessary for the MMC market to flourish.

By that I do not mean greater planning regulation; there is arguably enough of that already. Instead, I encourage the Government to look to how the planning regime has encouraged greater uptake of custom and self-build housing in recent years, through a combination of legislative targets for local authorities to deliver specific levels of custom and self-build housing; a favourable planning policy climate for that kind of housing; and relief from the community infrastructure levy and VAT for those who develop them. Those measures are generally judged to have been successful in stimulating greater uptake of custom and self-build housing over the past decade. A similar package could help do the same for MMC.

There are also good reasons for inferring that variations between local authority development plans in relation to the standards required of new housing development are having a repressive effect on MMC, the business model of which requires greater consistency. National standards, for example, through national development management policies, may be a solution to this. Such ideas would need to be worked and consulted on thoroughly. The committee’s letter has flagged that there are significant gaps in the understanding of the MMC market, meaning that rushed solutions risk unintended consequences. But there is, in my view, undoubtedly a case to answer for the planning system playing a role, and I encourage the Government to consider it.