East Staffordshire Borough Council is launching its first self-build scheme on a site in Burton-upon-Trent. The authority is working with Custom Build Homes and specialist financial services provider BuildStore to bring the 25-plot project forward. The land will be developed in three phases, the first of which will comprise eight sites. There are plans to create three, four and five-bedroom dwellings, and homeowners will be able to dictate their level of involvement in the build process. Plots will start from £85,000.
20% is the amount planning costs could rise, according to the government’s Housing White Paper. Local authorities that do opt to inflate this fee will have to reinvest the extra money into the planning infrastructure. This could add more resource to planning offices around the country, potentially speeding up decisions and enabling the release of more plots. “It’s one of the biggest game changers to come from the Housing White Paper,” says Brian Berry, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).