Feed aggregator

Bridge Community Farm originally opened in 2015

Find out what a .gov.uk Approved Registrar does, how to choose one and information about pricing.

But the plans need more detail, voluntary sector figures say

The King's Birthday Honours mark the extraordinary contributions and service of people across the UK.

The charity says it hopes the new visual identity will make its work more ‘accessible and engaging’

The announcement comes after the charity recorded a £125,000 deficit last year

Penny Appeal committed five code breaches across three of its programmes, an investigation has found

The chief executive of Manningham Housing Association (MHA) has congratulated his team after 11 residents have successfully been handed their keys to their new property.

A £4.3m million affordable homes scheme at Odette’s Point, Shann Lane in Keighley is near completion as 11 residents have started moving into their new home.

The project, which will be comprised of 20 new homes, includes 14 three-bed and six four-bed detached and semi-detached properties that will all be available for social rent, has been delivered in partnership with Avant Homes with support from Homes England and Bradford Council.  

Although 11 of the 20 properties have been finished, the remaining nine are expected to be done and occupied by the end of this year.

Following a visit to the site, Lee Bloomfield, chief executive of MHA, said the new homes had been tailored to meet the needs of tenants from all background, with a particular emphasis on South Asian families.

‘There is a particular requirement for larger family properties in Keighley and Bradford, which many housing associations are unable to address,’ Bloomfield said. ‘Rising to this challenge is central to our ongoing development plans, together with an absolute commitment to sustainability through environmentally friendly design which reduces our carbon footprint.’

Bloomfield added: ‘A number of the new properties benefit from integral solar panels, highlighting our environmental responsibility and foresight to create homes that are adaptable to future needs.’

In addition, Bloomfield also claimed the development underscores MHA’s deep resolve to support local communities in Keighley.

‘MHA currently owns and manages 223 homes in the area.  The new scheme is in an established local community with a robust identity and reliable communal services, ensuring a high quality of life for its residents,’ Bloomed explained. ‘The proximity to our existing housing stock and the high demand for housing in the area contribute to the long-term viability of the project for current and future generations.’

Bloomfield said: ‘We are proud of what we are doing in Keighley and look forward to providing many more high-quality affordable homes in the town and surrounding areas in the years to come.’

Image: MHA

More on this topic:

Over 100 affordable homes proposed for Bradford

Major change announced for estate regeneration with affordable homes funding

The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Labour and the Green Party have now all delivered their election manifestos. Looking at all four, experts have claimed the greens could have the most promising plans for the housing sector. 

Yesterday afternoon the Green Party launched their manifesto titled ‘Real Hope, Real Change’ which outlined their plans for the next government should they be successful in July’s election. The launch event, which took place in Brighton and Hove as that is where the majority of voters are situated, was opened by the party’s Brighton Pavilion candidate Siân Berry, who noted that the current housing crisis would be one of the first things on the Greens agenda to tackle should they be elected.

Ms Berry claimed that she has always been a renter, ‘at the mercy of a system that can turn on me at any moment’.

In a bid to try and tackle the housing crisis, the Greens have pledged that they will create more social rent homes by taking some from the private sector. Likewise, the party plan on upgrading existing social properties by providing better insulation so they stay warmer for longer, introducing rent controls, and letting councils requisition empty properties or those without proper insulation.

As well as ensuring people have a safe place to call home, these properties will also benefit the environment. The party have claimed any new homes will have access to sufficient local infrastructure and will be sustainably constructed.

With these pledges in mind, below are some reactions from industry experts who have also touched upon other priorities the Greens outlined at their manifesto launch.

Jane Crichton, Associate Director, Lanpro Services:

‘We don’t traditionally see the Greens as the party with the largest housebuilding targets.  And yet this is all-but implied in the manifesto: assuming that most new social homes come from the private sector and that a typical housing development provides 30% affordable / social housing, to provide 150,000 new homes as the Greens pledge would require at least 450,000 new homes to be built each year – considerably exceeding the housing delivery targets set by any other political party.

‘Other notable omissions are measures to support greater delivery rates of other forms of housing – including much needed private housing – and targets for doing so.

‘The manifesto contains a proposal that all new homes are built to Passivhaus standard, which of course we welcome in its objective to reduce carbon emissions. But due to the costs and skilled workforce required, this is probably unrealistic as it would impose an enormous burden on the development industry, and significantly slow delivery, without some well-planned measures to support the transition.

‘There are very ambitious and welcome targets for the construction of grid-scale renewable energy schemes. 100GW of solar over 10 years represents around 10-20 NSIPs per year, which is a significant step up from current rates. Explicit support for onshore wind and grid infrastructure bodes well for discussions with local councils where the Green party is in administration.’

Lawrence Turner, Director, Boyer:

‘The Green Party’s manifesto for housing affordability and sustainability presents a bold vision for a more environmentally friendly and affordable housing market in the UK. Their slogan ‘Right Homes, Right Place, Right Price’ outlines their commitment to addressing the pressing issues of housing affordability and sustainability.

‘One of the key policies outlined in the Green’s manifesto is the requirement for local authorities to plan for small-scale developments within local communities. This approach aims to integrate new housing into existing communities rather than planning for the creation of new towns, urban extensions, or any strategic development. Additionally, the Party wants all new homes to meet Passivhaus or equivalent standards, promoting energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions. By providing 150,000 new affordable homes each year and implementing measures like a community right to buy for local authorities, the Green Party believe this will make a significant difference in improving affordability in the housing sector.

‘However, a notable omission in the manifesto is the absence of details on how exactly 150,000 social / affordable homes would be delivered each year. The strategy of piecemeal development across local areas would pose challenges in planning and delivering the necessary infrastructure to support housing growth. Additionally, a sporadic approach to housing development, will make the delivery of the targeted number of affordable homes impossible to achieve, especially when considering the need for developments on greenfield sites as well as urban land.

‘The overarching theme is the Green Party’s commitment to transitioning to a zero-carbon society. By investing in renewable energy sources like onshore and offshore wind and promoting community ownership of energy sources, the Greens aim to decentralise power generation and reduce the UK’s reliance on fossil fuels. Empowering communities to control their energy supply would be an important step forward to achieving sustainability and reducing carbon emissions.

‘In conclusion, while the Green Party’s manifesto for housing affordability and sustainability presents ambitious goals, it remains undeliverable – and lacks any details on how these goals will be effectively achieved. Addressing the challenges of planning and delivering the necessary infrastructure for housing growth, as well as providing more clarity on the strategies for achieving affordable housing targets, will be crucial for the Green Party to gain support and credibility in their mission for a more sustainable and affordable housing market in the UK.’

In addition to the Greens announcing their pledges yesterday, Sir Keir Starmer took to the stand in Greater Manchester today to announce Labour’s goals for Parliament should they be successful next month. Within the manifesto, Starmer has laid strong emphasis on how he plans to increase economic growth through tax increases, but the Labour leader has warned this will not come from personal tax rises. Likewise, the manifesto also covered intentions to addresses issues within education, the NHS, the energy sector and housing. 

William Nichols, regional director of Lanpro, has claimed that like the Greens plans, lbaour’s pledges for the housing sector also seem promising. 

‘Labour’s manifesto has set out some bold steps for how it aims to ‘kickstart economic growth’, promising to ‘transfer power out of Westminster’ by deepening devolution settlements for existing combined authorities while reviewing the governance arrangements for combined authorities to unblock decision making. It aims to ‘get Britain building again, by delivering jobs and 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament. It aims to ‘deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation,’ Nichols said. ‘An important change that will be welcomed by the development industry is to immediately update the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) including the restoration or mandatory housing targets, and it has also said it will take tough action to ensure planning authorities have up-to-date Local Plans as well as strengthening the ‘presumption in favour of sustainable development’; how this works in practice remains to be seen. Labour is committed to funding additional planning officers and resourcing planning departments with the staff they need.’

Nichols added: ‘While Labour will continue to take a ‘brownfield first approach’, another welcome intervention is Labour’s commitment to take a more strategic approach to green belt designation while prioritising release lower quality ‘grey belt’ land alongside the creation of a set of ‘golden rules’ to ensure development benefits communities and nature.’

Images: Nik and Shutterstock

More on this topic:

Reaction to the summer General Election plans

Local elections 2024: Conservatives in ‘a very tough situation’

The Department for Levelling Up closed a consultation on the contractual controls on land. Ian Barnett, national land director of Leaders Romans Group explains what the next steps are for developers and landowners. 

The outcome of the consultation, which was launched at the beginning of this year, will be of particular interest to landowners and developers because it changes the way in which information about land ownership can be accessed and could significantly change the early stages of the local plan process – the point at which landowners can put forward land for future development. The concern is that the change could fuel anti-development sentiment among local communities to the detriment of landowners.

As such, it also raises questions about how public engagement on potential development could be managed more effectively.

The aim of the government’s consultation is to provide a reliable and accessible source of information for communities, developers, and other stakeholders, at an earlier stage in the land sales and development process. It would even apply to land which remains as farmland, as it would include a range of forms of potential land sales, such as options agreements.

Under new regulations (to form Part 11 of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act), a national dataset would be created, comprising the ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘who’ and ‘when’ of contractual control agreements. The government’s stated objective is to promote transparency by providing a reliable and accessible source of information for communities, developers and other stakeholders.

Currently, public engagement on land which may be sold for development usually begins when the land is put forward for allocation the local planning authority’s local plan. At this stage the landowner’s intention to develop and ultimately sell their land is made known and the local community is encouraged to comment through the local plan process. Prior to this stage, however, changed intentions are not required to be made public.

Many of us in the land industry are concerned that members of local communities may lobby landowners and campaign with the intention of stalling land sales and stopping housing from being built.

At this very early stage in the development process – when the land sale is first discussed but the site does not have an allocation in the local plan – proposals and other consultation documents are not yet available and the local community is unable to comment on meaningfully.

The change would encourage those fundamentally opposed to development to get involved in the process – but any objection at this stage would fall far short of meaningful engagement. Instead, it could potentially stir unnecessary conflict between the landowner and the local community – where, if more detailed development proposals been available, the community may have been supportive.

Furthermore, concerns have been raised about local newspapers scanning the new database for recent options agreements, or protest groups using mapping tools to identify land which has changed hands, and to whom. Clearly there is little benefit in creating alarm for no reason.

I would like to think that I am wrong in assuming that the potential for development would necessarily result in alarm and adversity – but sadly, the vast majority of development proposals and planning applications result in objections rather than support. 

Perhaps the government’s aim of achieving greater transparency, while commendable and an important facet of our democratic planning system, is directed at the wrong stage in the process.

My belief is that meaningful engagement – that which is less adversarial and more collaborative – would come from strengthening community involvement in the local plan process.

It is regrettable that under the same government we have seen one prime minister (Boris Johnson) rallying his Party Conference by promising to spare party members the ‘constant anxiety’ of their ‘immemorial view of chalk downland’ being ‘desecrated by ugly new homes’; another (Liz Truss) referring to housing targets as ‘Stalinist’.

The urgent need to address the housing crisis can only met if landowners, land promoters, developers and local communities can collaborate. Landowners are pivotal in the success of this relationship: some of the most successful and most popular developments are those with ‘landowner legacy’ at their heart.

Democracy has had an active role in planning since the first Town and Country Planning Act in 1947 and this should remain the case – but note that the Act concerns planning, not ownership (and certainly not potential future ownership).

Images: Bermix Studio and Heidi Fin

More on this topic:

Planning red tape rules have been cut for farmers

New compulsory purchase orders powers only beneficial ‘at first glance’

The research shows homelessness is now a concern for one in five people in the UK, causing members of the public to call on the next government to build more social homes.

A new study, which was published yesterday by Places for People, has revealed that 21% of people living in the UK fear they or someone they know will become homeless within the next 12 months. When looking at this devastating statistic more closely, it was found that the worry is greater in renters rather than those who own their own home.

Researchers found that 30% of individuals who privately rent are concerned about homelessness compared to 29% of people who live in social housing and 15% of homeowners.

Against this backdrop, recent government statistics show people in the UK have more than a right to be concerned about the growing homelessness crisis. The data found 3,898 people were counted as sleeping rough across England on a single night in Autumn 2023, and 121 in Wales. In Scotland, 2,438 households reported rough sleeping during the previous three months before applying for support in 2022/2023.  

However, the bleak pictures doesn’t just stop here. In addition to showcasing the number of people sleeping rough in the UK, the government figures also show households living in temporary accommodation is at its highest ever level, with 112,660 in England, 15,625 in Scotland and 5,700 in Wales. What’s more, there are 1.29 million households waiting for a social home in England, 110,900 in Scotland and 90,000 in Wales.  

‘These figures should alarm us all. What we found has bluntly exposed the worry that exists throughout the country. Sadly, however, they do not come as a surprise – for too long we have been highlighting the seriousness of the ever-growing homelessness crisis facing the UK,’ John Greaves, chief impact officer at Places for People, said. ‘With renters in both social and private properties most concerned, everything people are telling us points towards a desperate need to build more social homes, although delivering the right mix of all tenures remains vital to ease overall pressure. At Places for People, we’re doing all we can to build more quality homes, including for social rent, and we support those who have fallen on hard times and are being let down by the welfare system, but we can only do so much.’

Greaves added: ‘We know that building 90,000 social homes a year will be a challenge, but we’re ready to help. We see an opportunity to deepen our collaboration with partners and work closely together as part of public-interest-led development groups. This would bring developers, local authorities, members of the public and others together on larger schemes to plan and deliver the quality homes needed in a more joined-up and community-focussed way. This could be supported by giving Homes England greater flexibility over funding to deliver on more challenging sites. We want to put ourselves forward to work closely with Homes England and a local authority on a specific site to trial this model, building on the development corporation approach.   

‘As a sector, the concerns we have raised time and time again around the need for more social homes have not been listened to by Government in recent years. So, we are now urging whoever forms the next Government to listen to the people of the UK and put delivering more social homes at the top of your priority list. Talking’s over, it’s time to build.’

Following the outcome of its survey, Places for People, which owns or manages more than 245,000 homes across the UK including 74,000 social homes, is calling on the next government to prioritise social housing targets.

Image: Arian Malek khosravi

More on this topic:

Nottingham homes renovation scheme complete to combat homelessness

Mayor of London pledges to end homelessness under one condition

Our networks offer help and support to civil servants and raise awareness of some of the barriers faced by our underrepresented groups.

Our networks offer help and support to civil servants and raise awareness of some of the barriers faced by our underrepresented groups.

Sayyeda Salam joins from Save the Children UK

The organisation hopes to to place 20 over-50s in six-month posts in the charity sector

Equity, diversity and inclusion must be prioritised by charity chairs to prepare for future chair cohorts, the report says

The Norman Foster Foundation have partnered with Holcim to create new emergency housing which will be showcased at this year’s Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in London.

The research project, which is otherwise known as Essentia Homes, was initiated to provide safety, comfort and wellbeing for low-income or displaced communities. The first prototype was shown last year at the Venice Biennale. The prototype has been developed for rollout in Latin America in 2025, following an in-depth study of local housing conditions and the environment.

Prior to the rollout, sketches of the homes, which are set to be built with low-carbon, local materials including ECOPact low-carbon concrete and ECOPlanet low carbon cement, will be showed at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition – the world’s oldest open submission exhibition, held every year since 1769. This year, the event will take place in London from 18th June until 18th August 2024.

Nollaig Forrest, chief sustainability officer, Holcim, a global leader in innovative and sustainable building solutions: ‘We are excited to be continuing our collaboration with the Norman Foster Foundation on this important project to make sustainable building possible for all. The Essential Homes prototype we are jointly unveiling at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition is designed to be rolled out at scale in Latin America during 2025.’

Norman Foster, president, Norman Foster Foundation, added: ‘This project grew out of a workshop organised by the Norman Foster Foundation for young graduates devoted to the issues of refugee housing. Realising that a family can spend up to nearly two decades living in a tent, the scholars posed a challenge – could a more durable, permanent and dignified home be built in a few days, that would be economically viable and sustainable? The Foundations project team, with the support of Holcim, met this challenge with a prototype home unveiled at the 2023 Venice Biennale. This has now evolved into a row house version, offering higher standards for ultra low-cost housing – shown for the first time at this Royal Academy Summer Show.’

Images: The Norman Foster Foundation

More on this topic:

Deep waters: One in 13 new homes built in flood zone

£125m plans have been submitted to build hundreds of new homes in Glasgow

Glasgow employment tribunal upheld Rachel Montgomery’s claim based on a protected characteristic but rejected several others

The project, which was commissioned by the government in March, has been paused because of the general election and there is uncertainty over whether it will resume

But the Tory manifesto is criticised for containing ‘no clear vision or strategy for the charity sector and its future’