Government reveals measures to boost custom and self build housing

The Government continues to support people that hope to build their own homes, with a raft of measures to boost custom and self-build activity. These announcements are important for the sector and local government, and will, in time, result in more opportunities for members of the public who want to self-build.

This follows the announcement of a Help to Build back in December, which was quickly followed by a series of policies and proposals that namecheck the sector. Together, these add weight to the argument for scaling up custom and self-build.

Measures to support custom and self-build

• A review of the Right to Build legislation to improve people’s experiences,

• A proposed improvement in the way councils collect information on self and custom build with regards to their local self build registers;

• A Brownfield Land Release Fund that includes, among other things, provision to support self and custom build to come forward;

• A new Right to Regenerate, to enable people to bring unused public sector land to market,

• A planned Help to Build equity loan scheme to give custom and self-builders a route to finance for their project.

The Housing Secretary Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP, who announced the news about the Brownfield Land Release Fund said “We are backing people who want to design and build their own home, and today I have launched a review to ensure councils provide enough land and take proper consideration for these homes when making planning decisions in their area.”

NaCSBA hopes that these measures will be embraced by local government in the spirit in which they are intended.

Andrew Baddeley-Chappell, CEO of NaCSBA commented, saying: “We thoroughly welcome this news for anyone wanting to build their own home. This is investment that will help bring forward more sites for self and custom builders, and we hope this will lead to more sites coming forwards across England.