Memorandum by English Partnerships (EP)
(AH 101)
INTRODUCTION
1. English Partnerships (EP) welcomes the
opportunity to give evidence to the Select Committee's inquiry.
This memorandum focuses on EP's role and remit in bringing forward
public sector land and brownfield land to increase the supply
of housing and our role in influencing housing quality and speed
of delivery.
2. English Partnerships is the national
regeneration agency, helping Government support high quality sustainable
growth across England. English Partnerships is committed to five
core business areas through which we deliver our objectives:
— Developing our own portfolio of strategic
sites.
— Acting as the Government's specialist
advisor on brownfield land.
— Making sure that Surplus Government
land is used to support wider Government objectives especially
the implementation of the Sustainable Communities Plan.
— Helping to create communities where
people can afford to live and where people want to live.
— Supporting the urban renaissance
by improving the quality of our towns and cities.
3. English Partnerships recognises that
sustainable communities are not simply about the delivery of housing
but also the provision of essential physical and social infrastructure.
4. In 2004-05 we facilitated 4,439 housing
starts on site including 1,875 affordable units and 2,518 housing
completions, including 554 affordable units. In our current Corporate
Plan period, 2005-06 to 2008-09, we aim to commission over 31,000
housing starts on site and facilitate over 20,000 housing completions.
5. The forthcoming Comprehensive Spending
Review (CSR) 2007 will have an impact on EP's programme with a
consequential effect on outputs targets. These will be fed into
the Corporate Planning process. EP will align its programme to
take account of the response by Government to Kate Barker's Review
of Housing Supply.
SURPLUS PUBLIC
SECTOR LAND
6. English Partnerships has a key role in
bringing forward land for development, particularly in bringing
previously developed public sector land back into use. English
Partnerships has acquired more than 2,000 hectares of surplus
public sector land over the last three years, including 96 former
hospital sites. This land is expected to provide more than 20,000
homes phased over 10 years.
7. During 2005, EP completed the acquisition
from the NHS of a 96-site portfolio of former hospital sites.
We anticipate that the sites, with a total area of 1,650 ha, will
provide more than 15,000 new homes, at least 5,000 of which will
be affordable.
8. English Partnerships has acquired the
former RAF Staff College site at Bracknell from Defence Estates.
Bracknell has been identified as an area with a shortage of affordable
homes and EP is working closely with the local authority and the
community to create a sustainable development that meets local
housing needs and integrates with the proposed town centre regeneration
programme.
9. In 2004 English Partnerships concluded
a Framework Agreement with Defence Estates. This provides a basis
for joint working on surplus land between the two organisations
and EP is now working with Defence Estates in relation to a number
of their surplus sites. Additionally English Partnerships has
advised Defence Estates on the structuring of "Project MoDel",
a portfolio of surplus sites in and around London.
THE REGISTER
OF SURPLUS
PUBLIC SECTOR
LAND
10. At the request of ODPM and HM Treasury,
English Partnerships has established and maintains the Register
of Surplus Public Sector Land. The Register provides a single
reference point for all participating public sector organisations
on the available national supply of surplus land and helps to
ensure that wider government objectives, including housing needs,
are factored into land disposal decisions.
11. The database now consists of 741 sites
covering over 4,600 hectares of surplus land with 324 of the sites
contained in the wider south-east with a total area of over 1,900
hectares. The Registered sites originate from around 40 government
departments, sponsored bodies and NHS Trusts. English Partnerships
research suggests that 400 sites on the Register of 0.4 hectares
and above have an estimated capacity for around 20,000 new homes.
12. English Partnerships has begun a pilot
study to extend coverage of the Register to local authorities.
This will examine practical issues as well as exploring the role
local authorities play in the disposal and re-use of surplus public
sector land. The role of the Housing Corporation in identifying
sites for potential housing association schemes is also being
explored.
INCREASING THE
SUPPLY OF
SURPLUS PUBLIC
SECTOR LAND
13. English Partnerships is also working
closely with ODPM and HM Treasury to identify any barriers that
may be challenging the best re-use of surplus public sector land
for housing and will make recommendations on how they can be overcome.
14. English Partnerships recognises that
whilst the direct ownership of land can often be the best way
to ensure that its development will support the Sustainable Communities
agenda, we are exploring alternative ways to achieve the same
outcomes, without the need to incur the additional costs associated
with land ownership. Strategic partnering, such as Project MoDEL,
is one example whereby we can use our skills and experience to
advise and influence landowners on their disposal strategies.
BRINGING FORWARD
BROWNFIELD LAND
15. English Partnerships recognises the
critical role brownfield land has in contributing to increasing
the supply of housing and delivering the Government's objectives.
EP are working alongside ODPM on further improving the National
Land Use Database—a key tool in identifying brownfield land—and
producing a National Brownfield Strategy in 2006. The Strategy
will be based on substantial earlier research published by EP
in Towards a National Brownfield Strategy, which is the most comprehensive
study ever undertaken to assess the state of England's brownfield
land supply, and will be a living document to be kept under regular
review.
16. A pilot scheme was launched earlier
in 2005 aimed at addressing the future use of long-term derelict
land in 14 local authority areas, working with a range of agencies
and key partners, including local communities. EP will have a
key role in delivering the strategy but it will be applicable
to a much wider audience, including DEFRA and the Environment
Agency, as well as RDAs, Local Authorities and the private sector
SPEEDING-UP
DELIVERY
17. English Partnerships recognises the
potential role that modern construction techniques have in delivering
well-designed homes, which can be constructed quickly, efficiently
and economically, helping to create developments that are successful
in the longer term.
18. EP encourages the use of Modern Methods
of Construction (MMC) on its developments and has adopted a target
of 25% MMC across our programme as a means to achieving a step
change in the delivery of housing. We promote methods which improve
design efficiency, reduce waste, improve delivery times and create
greater opportunities for flexible designs and energy efficient
housing types. EP supports the findings of the recent NAO study
into MMC published in November 2005, which finds that it should
be possible to build four times as many homes using MMC with the
same on-site labour.
19. EP has also promoted MMC through initiatives
such as the Summit House, first exhibited as the centrepiece of
the Sustainable Communities Summit in January 2005, which drew
attention to the flexibility and quality that can be achieved
through off-site fabrication. It is now being incorporated into
a permanent development as part of the Allerton Bywater Millennium
Community.
20. In order to address the disproportionate
inflation in construction costs, which rose in 2004 by 14.3% compared
with 3.6% for inflation, EP were asked by the ODPM to manage the
Design for Manufacture Competition launched in April 2005. This
competition challenges the housebuilding industry to build good
quality homes more efficiently and cheaply, with a headline construction
cost target of £60,000. The preferred developers for the
first eight sites—many using off-site fabrication solutions—have
now been announced and construction of the first homes will commence
in Spring 2006.
21. With a major focus now being placed
on the provision of housing to address market deficiencies, particularly
in the Growth Areas, English Partnerships are keen to help Local
Authorities in these areas increase the scale, speed and quality
of major housing and regeneration proposals. The Advisory Team
for Large Applications (ATLAS) offers advice to Local Planning
Authorities dealing with major development proposals in the wider
South East of England. ATLAS' objectives lie at the heart of English
Partnerships' remit and are core elements of the Skills and Sustainable
Communities agendas.
22. In Milton Keynes, the Milton Keynes
Partnership Committee brings EP, Milton Keynes Council and the
Local Strategic Partnership together to provide a single delivery
mechanism, which will oversee further growth and development in
the city. EP will use its powers under the Planning Act to determine
major planning applications in the Urban Development Area around
Milton Keynes.
23. A Prospectus has been developed to guide
development and to cost up the infrastructure needed to support
growth in Milton Keynes. The prospectus includes all public-sector
partners' immediate commitments and long-term plans for investment
and is supported by the private sector through the establishment
of an agreed S106 framework payable against each new home. Forward
funding for infrastructure will be provided by English Partnerships,
although a final decision is awaited from HMT.
24. EP will be supporting the construction
of a £24.1 million by-pass in West Bedford which will facilitate
the development of 2,250 new homes by allowing landowners adjacent
to the by-pass to obtain planning consent. Public sector costs
will be recovered through S106 agreements which share in the resulting
uplift in land values.
PROMOTING GREATER
HOME OWNERSHIP
25. English Partnerships is committed to
helping to deliver housing across the range of tenures. The London-Wide
Initiative (LWI) utilises redundant buildings and sites to provide
discounted for sale affordable housing units across the Capital.
LWI is a deferred equity model in which EP retains the unsold
equity of the homes. Each site will include a mix of open-market
sale as well as low-cost ownership and rental homes with the aim
of delivering up to 4,000 homes in total, of which 1,500 homes
will be LWI units for key workers and first time buyers.
26. English Partnerships is also working
with ODPM to deliver the First Time Buyer's Initiative (FTBI),
a shared equity product providing first time buyers a "stepping
stone" into home ownership. The initiative is part of ODPM's
New Build HomeBuy low cost home ownership initiative and is positioned
to target key workers and other eligible groups that have sufficient
income to sustain homeownership but are currently prevented from
entering the housing market by the prevailing supply/demand conditions.
27. FTBI is currently planned to deliver
in the region of 15,000 housing starts supported by a budget of
up to £850 million by 2010, although the actual number of
houses will depend on the level of resources available from the
CSR.
28. FTBI homes will be delivered through
portfolio leverage on public sector land in EP ownership; development
on other surplus public sector land not in EP ownership in partnership
with public agency partners; and re-profiling existing private
sector schemes.
29. EP works in close collaboration with
the Housing Corporation across its programmes and shares expertise
in relation to affordable housing initiatives through a joint
Low Cost Home Ownership group. We work effectively together on
the Regional Housing Boards to ensure that proposed investment
and development is in line with regional priorities.
REGIONAL DISPARITIES
30. English Partnerships is also closely
involved in addressing the problems being experienced in areas
affected by low demand for housing in the Midlands and in the
North of England. We will continue to support other areas suffering
from low demand for housing, working with Market Renewal Pathfinders
in, for example, Sheffield and Stoke-on-Trent, as well as in other
urban areas experiencing similar problems.
31. In the East Midlands, the "Meden
Valley Making Places" delivery vehicle will continue its
work to breathe new life into 11 former mining settlements. The
National Coalfields Programme is assisting coalfield communities
throughout England to recover from the decline of the coal industry
by creating new employment, homes, leisure facilities and open
space. We are also supporting several city centre regeneration
projects promoted by the Urban Regeneration Companies.
IMPROVING QUALITY
32. English Partnerships places great importance
on setting high standards of design and practice in order to set
benchmarks for the private sector to follow. English Partnerships
has made all its development briefs consistent. This will enable
partners to know our base requirements and thus speed up the process.
The standards are mostly independently validated. Put together,
they set a new, higher benchmark for the development of sustainable
communities.
33. All EP's developments now feature:
— Appropriate mix of uses and users.
— Good urban design quality.
— A variety of housing opportunities.
— Suitable densities to sustain local
amenities.
— Ecohomes "Very Good" as
a minimum standard (and the equivalent in the case of non-residential
developments).
34. EP welcomes the consultation on the
Code for Sustainable Buildings and is confident that it will meet
the requirements of the Code.
35. EP have been pioneering the use of design
codes on our sites and are one of the stakeholders (along with
CABE) in ODPM's Pilot Design Coding Programme. This programme
is looking into design coding to ascertain how design codes can
speed up the planning and delivery of development whilst improving
the quality of development.
36. EP have found that the time invested
in developing a sound masterplan and accompanying codes can bring
dividends during the planning process. Bringing together the technical
stakeholders at key junctures in project development of the codes
helps the early resolution of contentious issues. This is supported
by ODPM's findings that the application of codes following a collaborative
design approach, and with support from key stakeholders, can speed
up the delivery process.
| 
