The Government has hit the ground running with ambitious plans to reform the planning system and build the homes we need, says the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) in response to the King’s Speech setting out the Government’s legislative programme for the coming year.
Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB, said: “It is positive that the new Government has already made tackling the UK’s housing crisis a key priority. For too long we’ve under delivered on housing delivery and pushed out smaller house builders from the market. However, these bold plans will only be successful if the current skills crisis in the construction industry is addressed. We are substantially lacking the skilled workers required to build new homes, and to upgrade our existing homes with the energy efficiency improvements which Labour have pledged. The UK is in desperate need of a long-term skills plan, to establish clear pathways into careers in construction. Unless this is delivered it is difficult to see how 1.5 million new homes will be built over the next five years.”
Berry concluded: “One startling omission is the lack of plans to upgrade the existing housing stock. We had been expecting to see a bold plan to retrofit five million homes to make them greener and more energy efficient but clearly the purse strings have not been opened enough to allow for this. While we should be looking to build more homes we mustn’t take our eye of the existing housing stock, which is the oldest and leakiest in Europe.”
