Teignbridge District Council has just become the first local planning authority to impose ‘self-build quotas’ on housing developers. The district authority’s new Local Plan was approved in its final examination by the planning inspector, bringing in a requirement that 5% of plots created on new developments of more than 20 homes must be offered to local self-builders (more here).
The new policy is a bold and dramatic response to the government’s call for a step-change in the provision of land for self-builders, and is underpinned by the inclusion in the National Planning Policy Framework of a ‘self-build clause’ – paragraph 159.
Lucas Hickman Smith has been lobbying Norfolk’s District Councils to rise to the government’s challenge (more here), but none of them seemed willing to consider such a bold move. On a more positive note, we have recently learned of a prospective major new custom- and self-build initiative in Norfolk, led not by a District Council but by a private developer. More here when we can!