Right to Build Day 2021 - Grand Designs Magazine
Right to Build Day 2021: significant developments for the custom and self build sector

Right to Build Day 2021 marks significant year for self build

NaCSBA celebrates the government's Self and Custom Build Action Plan plus further developments

By Victoria Purcell |

Each year, on 30 October, NaCSBA celebrates Right to Build Day – the date that local authorities in England must demonstrate they have provided sufficient self-build plots to meet the demands of aspiring grand designers.

While it takes time to crunch the numbers to see if planning permissions are keeping up with demand, NaCSBA has noted a number of significant developments for the custom and self-build (CSB) sector this year.

Most notable is the Self and Custom Build Action Plan, published in April 2021. The plan states that, as a key part of its pledge to deliver 300,000 additional homes per year, the government is ‘committed to increasing the number of self- and custom-build homes in this country, and to establish it as a mainstream option’.

The plan outlines the three main barriers to the growth of the custom and self-build sector in England – access to finance, access to land, and the skills/knowledge gap – plus government interventions to address these issues.

Grand Designs: The Street followed pioneering self builders at Graven Hill

Grand Designs: The Street followed pioneering self-builders at Graven Hill. Photo: Channel 4

Self-build finance

In a survey conducted by YouGov and commissioned by NaCSBA and the Building Societies Association in October 2020, just over 2,000 adults were quizzed about their self-build intentions. Unsurprisingly, 59% of respondents said that finance was the biggest barrier to tackling a build.

The Self and Custom Build Action Plan includes plans to address access to self-build mortgages. Plus, there’s the Help to Build loan scheme, announced in November 2020. The scheme should enable custom- and self-builders to access the market with just a 5% deposit, backed by some £150 million of government funding. The launch has been delayed, but according to NaCSBA, full details should emerge shortly.

Olaf's triangle house in Billingshurst, West Sussex, from Grand Designs

Olaf Mason, like many grand designers, found self-build financing difficult. Photo: Jefferson Smith

Access to land

‘If you can afford to buy a house, you can afford to build a house,’ said Andrew Baddeley-Chappell, CEO of NaCSBA, during a panel discussion with Kevin McCloud at Grand Designs Live 2021. The cost of land is the problem, he noted, and this is where custom build comes in, with sites like Graven Hill in Oxfordshire – the UK’s largest self-build development, documented in Grand Designs: The Street – making a real mark.

‘Custom build is a more affordable option for a better house,’ said Baddeley-Chappell. ‘If you build on a large development, that will be cheaper. You get more house for your money.’

Government efforts to improve access to land include the Brownfield Land Release Fund, announced as part of the 2020 Spending Review. During two rounds of funding – the second of which ended in November 2021 – £25 million was allocated to local authorities to release surplus brownfield land for custom and self build.

Each year, on 30 October, NaCSBA celebrates Right to Build Day – the date that local authorities in England must demonstrate they have provided sufficient self-build plots to meet the demands of aspiring grand designers.

While it takes time to crunch the numbers to see if planning permissions are keeping up with demand, NaCSBA has noted a number of significant developments for the custom and self-build (CSB) sector this year.

Most notable is the Self and Custom Build Action Plan, published in April 2021. The plan states that, as a key part of its pledge to deliver 300,000 additional homes per year, the government is ‘committed to increasing the number of self- and custom-build homes in this country, and to establish it as a mainstream option’.

The plan outlines the three main barriers to the growth of the custom and self-build sector in England – access to finance, access to land, and the skills/knowledge gap – plus government interventions to address these issues.

Grand Designs: The Street followed pioneering self builders at Graven Hill

Grand Designs: The Street followed pioneering self-builders at Graven Hill. Photo: Channel 4

Self-build finance

In a survey conducted by YouGov and commissioned by NaCSBA and the Building Societies Association in October 2020, just over 2,000 adults were quizzed about their self-build intentions. Unsurprisingly, 59% of respondents said that finance was the biggest barrier to tackling a build.

The Self and Custom Build Action Plan includes plans to address access to self-build mortgages. Plus, there’s the Help to Build loan scheme, announced in November 2020. The scheme should enable custom- and self-builders to access the market with just a 5% deposit, backed by some £150 million of government funding. The launch has been delayed, but according to NaCSBA, full details should emerge shortly.

Olaf's triangle house in Billingshurst, West Sussex, from Grand Designs

Olaf Mason, like many grand designers, found self-build financing difficult. Photo: Jefferson Smith

Access to land

‘If you can afford to buy a house, you can afford to build a house,’ said Andrew Baddeley-Chappell, CEO of NaCSBA, during a panel discussion with Kevin McCloud at Grand Designs Live 2021. The cost of land is the problem, he noted, and this is where custom build comes in, with sites like Graven Hill in Oxfordshire – the UK’s largest self-build development, documented in Grand Designs: The Street – making a real mark.

‘Custom build is a more affordable option for a better house,’ said Baddeley-Chappell. ‘If you build on a large development, that will be cheaper. You get more house for your money.’

Government efforts to improve access to land include the Brownfield Land Release Fund, announced as part of the 2020 Spending Review. During two rounds of funding – the second of which ended in November 2021 – £25 million was allocated to local authorities to release surplus brownfield land for custom and self build.

Image: Chris Haines created the UK’s first U-Build house at Graven Hill. Photo: Lenny Codd

The skills/knowledge gap

The Right to Build Task Force, introduced in April 2021, was another significant development. Operated by NaCSBA and funded by the government until at least 31 March 2022, it provides technical support, consultancy and guidance to both local authorities and businesses on the delivery of more custom and self-build homes.

NaCSBA’s National Custom and Self Build Week, which has been running since 2013, promotes the sector to consumers, sharing expertise and know-how. In May 2021, the week was dedicated to professionals, from financiers to architects, offering free training sessions on themes around the Custom and Self Build Action Plan.

Andrew and Margretta Smith is a lesson in how to make a house unobtrusive in the landscape

The CSB sector leads to innovation in housebuilding, like Andrew and Margretta Smith’s Grand Design in Buckinghamshire. Photo: Jefferson Smith

Further developments

There are also plans to review the Right to Build legislation to see whether reforms are needed. And it looks like they are. Data collected from the Right to Build register reveals that, across the 317 local authorities in England, an average of 47,714 individuals and groups have registered their interest in CSB plots since it was launched in 2016. So far, just 35,860 planning permissions for self and custom build serviced plots have been granted.

But providing sufficient plots isn’t the only problem: ‘Some [local authorities] have put major barriers in place to join the register,’ observed Baddeley-Chappell at Grand Designs Live. In the period 2019-2020, 49 local authorities were charging for entry to the register, while others require self-builders to have a mortgage in place before granting permissions on a plot. Prospective lenders want to see evidence of planning permission first, however.

Another significant development in the CSB sector this year was the Bacon Review, delivered in August 2021. The Prime Minister commissioned Richard Bacon MP to undertake an independent review of CSB in the UK, and to develop a plan for the scaling-up of self-commissioned home building. He came up with six recommendations, from a greater role for Homes England to planning reforms and tackling perceived issues around tax.

Action is still needed

‘October 30th is the most important date in the custom and self build calendar,’ said Baddeley-Chappell. ‘It is a time to celebrate the most significant year for the sector in a generation, but also to highlight the action that is still needed, and the change that we continue to fight for if we are to build more homes, better homes and more wanted homes.’

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