Redrow's Morgan slams planning reform critics

Published 08th Sep 2011

The head of homebuilder Redrow lambasted the "selfish attitude" of critics vying to block an overhaul of the building planning system that will enable more affordable homes to be built in the UK.

"(They are) saying that we're creating urban sprawl, which is just emotional, scaremongering claptrap," Redrow's chairman and founder Steve Morgan told Reuters.

"The reality is far from the truth. If we as an industry built what the country requires -- which is quarter of a million homes per annum -- we will build on significantly less than 1 percent of the land in country," said Morgan.

Senior ministers said Monday they would press ahead with proposals for the biggest shake-up to Britain's building planning system in decades despite criticism that it would blight what remains of the nation's dwindling countryside.

The government said that changes are vital to help to revive a faltering economy and to make housing more affordable. It says planning delays cost the economy 3 billion pounds per year.

"I said a year ago that we spend more on planning related fees than we do on bricks, and that remains the case and if anything it's got worse," said Morgan, who also owns Premier League football club Wolverhampton Wanderers.

"We strongly welcome the new initiative, which stops us becoming the most over regulated country in the world, to one where there is a sensible balance," he added.

However, the proposals have angered many core Conservative supporters, who look to the party to protect the leafy areas in which many of them live, prompting the Daily Telegraph to launch their "Hands Off Our Land" campaign, urging ministers to rethink the legislation that is at consultation stage.


THROTTLED DEVELOPMENT

Industry participants have long complained that the current planning system has choked development, with the number of homes built in England and Wales falling last year to its lowest level during peacetime since 1924.

"For a long time, planning has been so anti-development, instead of being a control to development, it's been more to throttle development," said the chairman, who made a dramatic return to Redrow over two years ago as the market floundered at the bottom of the property crash.

Morgan said they had just been refused planning permission to transform a derelict a 50-acre chemical site in Leeds into housing, thanks to the "rearguard action" of local councillors -- a move which Morgan sees as incomprehensible.

Only 100,000 homes were built last year, well under half what is needed to close the housing gap shortage according to the Home Builders Federation, and a move which is forcing more young people to stay in rented accommodation as they are squeezed out of the property market.

"All the government is doing, is saying (to the councils), look you can't avoid your responsibilities anymore, you have to produce a local plan, you have to supply your housing needs. You tell us where you're going to put your housing, but if you don't, you'll be challenged by the housebuilders," he said.

Morgan described the critics as "well heeled people who are already very comfortable in their own environment."

"It's ok for them, but (what about) the young people who can't afford to buy their own home," he said.

Source: ' Reuters '

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