Government

The government has unveiled plans to extend permitted development rights for demolishing buildings and replacing them with housing. In 2020 the government introduced a rule that allowed the demolition of residential, office or industrial buildings built before 1989 without planning permission if they are replaced by a home or housing…

The government has injected £3bn into affordable housing, which it says will finance 20,000 new homes. The extra funds were pledged towards the Affordable Homes Guarantee Scheme, which, for the first time, can now also be used to upgrade existing properties to make them safe or “fit for the future”.…

A major trade body has warned that new biodiversity net gain (BNG) legislation, which comes into force today (12 February), will deter homebuilding. Rico Wojtulewicz, head of policy and market insights at the National Federation of Builders (NFB), said some of the organisation’s members had told him that they planned…

Labour has almost halved its green investment plan for the next parliament. The opposition party, which has a large lead in opinion polls with a general election due to be held within the next 11 months, previously made a flagship commitment to a £28bn annual “green prosperity plan”. The plan…

Housing secretary Michael Gove has said he doesn’t believe a modern methods of construction (MMC) taskforce is necessary, after criticism that a promised £10m taskforce had never materialised. At a House of Lords’ Built Environment Committee session on 6 February, Gove said that “other issues have loomed larger” since the…

The leader of a Commons inquiry has called on the housing minister to respond to an independent review into the testing of construction products. Labour MP Clive Betts, chair of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities select committee’s fire-safety inquiry, has written to housing minister Lee Rowley asking the government…

The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) has called on the government to progress higher accessibility standards in new-build homes. In its written evidence for a Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) select committee inquiry into housing for people with disabilities, the body said the government “must prioritise” a…

The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) is in discussions about the future of its two recruitment platforms after their funding expires in April. Recent CLC minutes noted that funding for the Construction Talent Retention Scheme and Talentview was “proving a challenge” and that the group had “no mechanism for funding”. The…

Northern Irish construction firms have welcomed the imminent return to functioning government in the country and demanded a range of measures to boost the industry. Reports suggest power-sharing could return to Stormont this week after a two-year boycott by the Democratic Unionist Party over Brexit arrangements. Mark Spence, chief executive…

Homes England didn’t know what it was doing when it invested in collapsed housebuilders Ilke and House by Urban Splash, Conservative peer Lord Daniel Moylan has suggested in an interview with Construction News. Moylan was speaking after the House of Lords Built Environment Committee, which he chairs, concluded its inquiry…