Whilst all Planning Applications must be considered on their individual circumstances, as a Chartered Surveyor who is also a Local Councillor, I have given the overall UK Housing Issue some considerable thought over the years as it is quite clear there has been a growing difficulty in housing supply in the UK.

Basic economics tells us Prices are determined by Demand and Supply however we live in a country where Demand follows the economic cycle whilst Supply lags behind. This has meant in the past 50 years we have had 5 serious property crashes, 2 in the 1970s, 1 in the early 1980s, 1 in the early 1990s and 1 in the late 2000s.

Ultimately the problem is we don’t have enough houses in the country and as such this has made them more and more expensive, so when an economic downturn occurs, as it will from time to time, the UK is very prone to property crashes as huge demand disappears almost overnight leaving an oversupply due to the inevitable time delays due to planning and construction.

The sensible solution is of course to build more houses however since the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act, the right to develop land has effectively been nationalised for the public good to ensure development is appropriate. Despite the various changes in planning legislation over the intervening decades, this principle remains, albeit now with a presumption in favour of “sustainable development.”

Whilst people generally agree we need to build houses they disagree on where they should be built although the “Not In My Back Yard” (NIMBY) is most characterised in the media.

The reality is somewhat more complicated, in my experience as a Councillor what may appear to be a NIMBY protest group is a mixture of the traditional NIBMY viewpoint from some but from most there is often the acceptance of the need for development but opposition to a proposal due a desire to see something better, smaller and more appropriate to the local area. I have adopted the phrase “Something Logical In My Back Yard” or SLIMBY as an acronym.

I believe it is the views of the SLIMBY who hold the key to dealing with the housing problem that affects our country.

The only way to tackle the housing issue in the UK, is to properly engage the public as to the huge need for housing and to encourage people to proactively consider where houses and how houses should be built.

As part of this, larger scale developments will be required and I would recommend communities and councils read the September 2013 Royal Town Planning Institute paper on “Delivering Large Scale Housing” which recommends a proactive basis.  My profession body, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors also produced a Housing Commission report in June 2013. Another novel approach is the Wolfson Economics Prize which is offering £250,000 to the best practical submission on “How would you deliver a new Garden City which is visionary, economically viable, and popular?”. I would however like to concentrate on housing where local communities can be more proactive.

For many people, the thought of new housing on the green fields next to them is abhorrent, “build on brown field land first” is the natural response, this is logical however there are 3 things which must never be forgotten about in property: “Location, location, location”.

Building houses where people don’t want to live rather than where they do creates an even wider economic reason to build elsewhere due to the large price differential, which in turn changes the demographics of an area.

The message I try to give in relation to housing, is that if we don’t build new houses somewhere, many of our communities will have wide gaps in demographics, as only older, wealthier people can afford to buy or rent there and younger families will be priced out of the market and go elsewhere. The wider impact of this means closures of schools, shops and other community facilities, further impacting on communities.

I believe the policy of Neighbourhood Plans is a good one, it means a local community has to grasp the nettle in relation to the tricky decision of “shaping not stopping” development and be proactive on the issue. Too many communities now look back with hindsight following the building of large developments, realise this was inevitable and wish they had considered more of how to shape it.

With an increasingly ageing population, communities might wish to pro-actively look at encouraging more bungalows and residential care facilities, so older people have the opportunity of downsizing within their own community and free up larger homes for younger families.

For these reasons I would also advocate communities, councils and developers consider the design of schemes more carefully and I would recommend the adoption of Building for Life 12 Standards for all schemes where possible. BfL12 encourages developers to try and integrate new developments more carefully into existing settlements, so they appear more organic growth than imposed.

1 aspect of new developments which seems illogical is the preference for cul-de-sacs rather than through roads, this means by definition, new developments can only add to existing traffic flow and it is very difficult to encourage bus routes or further integration with the existing settlement.

Whilst large Brownfield and Greenfield sites will be required to meet the housing supply deficit, 1 area of potential housing development which should be considered is conversion of redundant commercial property, which Councils and communities should be proactive about.

With an increasing elderly demographic and a reduced public sector, there is likely to be a growing supply of unsuitable office accommodation e.g. offices on upper floors in buildings with no lifts, in town centres which if converted to flats would appeal to younger people.

There has also been a fundamental shift in retailing which means in most Towns and Cities some retailing areas have shrunk permanently, is it not better to accept reality and allow the periphery retailing areas to convert, indeed upper floors in the main retailing areas may be suitable for conversion.

There may also old industrial, distribution and warehousing properties which are now in mainly residential areas, why not encourage the occupiers to move to modern facilities and allow residential re-development.

All of these measures would help to increase the housing supply without a major impact on the local community. Indeed converting redundant commercial properties within towns could breath new life into those centres, as people would live in the town centre, are more likely to shop there too.

Recent changes to Planning Legislation have made some changes of use from commercial to residential much easier as well. As a Chartered Surveyor, I often recommend consideration of the option of commercial to residential conversion to clients as a more logical long term viable solution.

There are also other Government Policies which needs far wider promotion and that is the financial incentives for new housing through the New Homes Bonus and Community Infrastructure Levies, both of which can actively financially benefit Councils and communities affected by new developments.

In summary, I believe it is important for all communities to become SLIMBYs and pro-actively look at the housing needs in their areas, adopt a neighbourhood plan, insist on BfL12 as being part of the conditions they would look on new development in their area and pro-actively encourage conversion of redundant commercial buildings.

Cllr Charles Fifield FRICS

Sources / Further Reading:

Neighbourhood Planning Forum:
http://www.ourneighbourhoodplanning.org.uk/

Building for Life 12:
http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-work/CABE/Our-big-projects/Building-for-Life/

Commercial to Residential Planning Changes:
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/planning-promoting-regeneration

RTPI Large Scale Housing Developments:
http://www.rtpi.org.uk/knowledge/core-issues/large-scale-housing-development/

RICS Housing Commission:
http://www.rics.org/uk/about-rics/what-we-do/influencing-policy/policy-positions/rics-housing-commission-report/

Wolfson Prize “How would you deliver a new Garden City which is visionary, economically viable, and popular?”

http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/wolfsonprize 

“Beyond Retail: Redefining the shape and purpose of town centres”
http://policy.bcsc.org.uk/beyondretail/docs/BeyondRetail2013.pdf

New Homes Bonus:

https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/increasing-the-number-of-available-homes/supporting-pages/new-homes-bonus

Community Infrastructure Levy:

https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/giving-communities-more-power-in-planning-local-development/supporting-pages/community-infrastructure-levy 

N.B. Article posted here is in a personal capacity and does not represent official Conservative Party or Conservative CWC Group policy unless specifically stated.

Barrie Martin, consultant at the Edgware Office of Fifield Glyn (formerly Martin Russell Jones), has been awarded an MBE in the 2014 New Year’s Honours List for Services to Education as Chair of Governors at Queen Elizabeth School in Barnet, during his Chairmanship the School has become one of the top-performing in the country.

Further details at the QE School website: http://www.qebarnet.co.uk/new_and_noteworthy?newsID=649 

Fifield Glyn would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Fifield Glyn has donated to the Neuro Muscular Centre, Cheshire this year in lieu of sending Christmas Cards.

Cheshire West and Chester have taken over parking enforcement from Wednesday 20 November 2013 from Cheshire Police for the former Vale Royal area. Parking rules will stay the same; the only difference will be that the Council will be responsible for enforcing them instead of the police.

The majority of parking enforcement across the UK is now the responsibility of local Councils rather than the police. This change is a result of the police’s need to spend more time fighting crime. By transferring powers local Councils are better able to respond to local needs and the parking concerns of the community.

Cheshire West and Chester Council already carries out parking enforcement in the Ellesmere Port, Neston and Chester areas. The addition of the former Vale Royal area will mean that there will be the same consistent approach to enforcement.

For more information, please click onto http://tinyurl.com/px2pu7b 

 

Acting on behalf of Helphire Group Plc, Fifield Glyn has sold the long leasehold interest in Chelford House, Gadbrook Park to Crystal Property and Land Holdings Limited for £2,050,000.

The property comprises a modern detached three storey office building of approximately 37,000 sq ft together with 168 car parking spaces on a site of 2.1 acres.

The entire building is let to Green Dot Property Management Limited, part of Talk Talk Group Plc, until October 2015 at a rent of £455,000 pa

The annual Bike to Work Day took place on Tuesday 18^th June, again another excellent turnout.

Free breakfast for bikers provided by Café Arabica

 
 
 
 

Good morning,

The sun was shining, the bacon sizzled and 110 cyclists turned out for yesterdays event. This is an increase of 40 cyclists from previous years.

All cyclists presented with a goody bag courtesy of the Hut Group.

All prizes including the star bike prize donated by the Hut Group.

Winners on the day,

Glyn Fitzimmons from MIS…………………………..BIKE STAR PRIZE

Rob Taylor from Yes Financial……………………….SPORTING CYCLING TOP

Yvonne Rowe from Roberts Bakery…………….SET OF BIKE LIGHTS

Leon Wilkins from Visual Impact………………….BIKE SECURITY LOCK.

Other winners included Wayne Jeeves from Barclays and Roman Wieckowski from Concise IT.

Many came from far and wide cycling long distances but I must give a special mention to Keiron Munt from the Hut Group who turns up every year on a uni cycle and a honourable mention to Ian Johns of BDI who got his bike out  after  20 years and cycled to work (8.2 miles round trip), Angela Hall of H&M who arrived at 0600 hrs on a tandem.

On behalf of the BID group I would like to thank Nicola Fitzmaurice of Pro Bike Kit (Hut company) for arranging the prizes and supporting the organisation of the event.

Sport Cheshire for exhibiting.

Our colleagues at Arabica for the friendly welcome and participation.

Last but not least Stephen Hall of H&M Disinfectants who came back from an installation in France to participate and help on the day returning to France immediately after the presentations . Stephen drives this event forward each year and I thank him on behalf of us all.

Fifield Glyn, Chartered Surveyors, of London W1
and Cheshire have expanded with the acquisition of Martin Russell Jones,
Chartered Surveyors, of Edgware, London HA8 specialists in Residential
Management in St John’s Wood, Hampstead, Brent Cross, Hendon and Edgware. Fifield Glyn now manages 248 properties (both
Residential and Commercial) with 1,481 Leaseholders with Rent and Service
Charge collections totalling £8.4 million per annum. The Senior Partner of MRJ,
Barrie Martin FRICS, remains with the merged Practice and will continue to be
involved on a day to day basis with all aspects of the business including
specialist Party Wall Awards

As
business leaders and entrepreneurs responsible for millions of British
jobs, we believe that the Government is right to seek a new deal for the
EU and for the UK’s role in Europe. Far from being a threat to our
economic interests, a flexible, competitive Europe, with more powers
devolved from Brussels, is essential for growth, jobs and access to
markets. We therefore welcome the launch of Business for Britain’s
campaign for real change in the EU and urge all political parties to
join in committing themselves to a national drive to renegotiate the
terms of Britain’s membership of the EU.

Business for Britain Signatories

Letter on Page 4 – Click here to read Charles Fifield BSc (Hons) FRICS letter to RICS Modus Magazine April 2013