Scotland facing homes shortfall

SCOTLAND has fallen drastically behind England when it comes to building new homes, an industry trade body has claimed.

Homes for Scotland said a shortfall of 80,000 new homes has built up over the last decade.

Chief executive Nicola Barclay said this sluggish growth stood in “stark contrast” to England.

Speaking to Holyrood’s Economy Committee, she said housebuilding was advancing at a “very similar” rate in Scotland and England before the recession.

She added: “But since then, since the recession and since 2012, that figure has really split, and in England we’re now back to almost pre-recession levels, whereas in Scotland we’re only about 68 per cent of where we were before the recession.

“The main difference is policy. It’s not legislation, it’s policy – and it’s planning policy.

“In England, they brought out the National Planning Policy Framework in 2012, and since then you have had a huge amount of growth in the numbers.

“We calculate that we have a shortfall of about 80,000 homes across Scotland now, from pre-recession, because the shortfall every year is compounding. And so we need to do a lot about that.”

Ms Barclay said the “desire for new homes has to come from the top”, before it then feeds down into local authorities and communities.

She said: “We’ve seen that huge success in England with that method.

“What are the implications for that? We have more home builders who are home-grown in Scotland now looking to invest more in England, because they see that it’s easier to build and get quicker and better returns on their investment.”

She said small and medium-sized businesses have been locked out of the market since the recession, adding: “They were a huge, vibrant part of the market pre-recession. There are so many barriers now that they just can’t come back in.”

But Craig Mclaren, director of Scotland and Ireland at the Royal Town Planning Institute, said the key issue was getting shovels in the ground, not planning policy.

He said: “I actually don’t think planning is the main issue.

“I think if you look at the way in which we have housing completions over the last five years, it’s about 17,500 a year I think.

“If you look at the number of planning permissions that were given for housing over the last two years, in 2016 it was 37,000, and in 2017 there were 29,500.

“So I actually think planning – it’s not perfect, I think we have to fix bits of it, but it’s not the key issue. For me, the key issue is getting from the planning permission to the actual shovel in the ground.”

Mr Mclaren said there was a general issue over a lack of cash to create vital infrastructure.

He said: “When I talk to developers, when I talk to councils, housing development comes [up], and one of the first things that’s asked is, ‘Who’s going to provide the school for this? Because there are going to be school places created by this new housing development.’

“And no one’s got the money to actually cover it just now. So there’s a need to try and see how we can break that logjam.”

It came as MSPS on the Economy Committee continue to take evidence on Scotland’s construction industry.

Ms Barclay said Brexit risked creating a lack of confidence in the housing market, driven by job insecurity.

However, she insisted the market remained strong despite the uncertainty.

Scottish ministers aim to deliver at least 50,000 affordable homes by 2021, backed by an investment of £3 billion.