Systems of Housing Supply and Housing Production in Europe by Andrew Golland

Author:Andrew Golland [Golland, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, General
ISBN: 9780429795282
Google: rTeDDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-01-04T04:50:41+00:00

The United Kingdom

The case for an integrated system of housing supply

If a system of housing supply is to fully monitor housing production outcomes, then it needs to be integral. By this is meant that all facets, (policy and process aspects), should be interconnected in such a way that a change in policy direction can be efficiently effected through the whole system. In reality however, it is very difficult to evaluate the extent of ‘integration’, since only empirical tests would reveal or allow true comparisons between countries. Hence, it is practically necessary to rely on what is written about the relationships between policy and the development process in each of the three countries.

From this standpoint, the system of housing supply in the United Kingdom is very often remarked upon for the lack of integration between policy and development process. This is particularly the case where an overview is given of the relationships at the national level between the policy fields of housing, planning and land. Generally, the body of argument suggests a lack of co-ordination between these three main policy facets (Bramley, 1994; Carter and Brown, 1991; Chiddick and Dobson, 1986). The relationship between land use planning and land policy attracts the greatest interest and largest amount of criticism; and this is particularly the case since the beginning of the 1980s, when ‘market solutions’ and ‘state policies’ became increasingly seen as different, and often mutually exclusive, ways of tackling housing production issues. Mainly the challenge of integrating supply-side policies within the local development process has been frustrated by the inherent conflicts between the prescriptive approach of government on the one hand, and on the other, the market process itself. One example of this sort of conflict can be seen in government guidance on land availability in the 1980s, provided in Circulars 9/80 (D.o.E, 1980), ‘Land for Private Housebuilding’ and 15/84, ‘Land for Housing’ (D.o.E, 1984). In the latter, local authorities were urged to:

ensure that at all times land is or will become available within the next five years which can be developed (or is being developed) within that period (D.o.E, 1984).

This directive proved, not surprisingly perhaps, to be problematical. What is ‘developable’ to the local authority has not necessarily been ‘developable’ to housing developers. ‘Developability’ hinges, not around statutory provisions, but on whether housing built in a certain area can be marketed and sold. It has generally not been enough that local authorities have set aside a five years supply of land. This land has to be both ‘developable’ and ‘marketable’ from a developers’ point of view. The frustration caused by these sorts of problems led Chiddick and Dobson in 1986 to suggest that government should ‘change the statutory basis in line with its advice by recognising the intrinsic linkage between economic and land use policies’ (Chiddick and Dobson, 1986, p. 13).

Attempts to bring about an integrated system of housing supply and housing production over the past twenty years, can be argued to be at best, sporadic. Where exceptions can be identified, their possible long term effects are unknown.

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