2017 was a positive year for self-build.the number of us commissioning our own bespoke homes has risen to 13,000 – inching back towards pre-credit crunch levels. And the latest news from NaCSBA is that 33,000 individuals and groups have now signed up to councils’ Right to Build registers. As Mike Hardwick reveals on page 130, these lists could be a gamechanger for people who want to self or custom build, as local authorities must permission enough serviced plots to meet the demand indicated on their registers within each allotted three-year period. This has the potential to bring a steady stream of viable sites onto the market – but it’s early days and there are challenges.
Interestingly, uptake has actually slowed down a little: 18,000 signed up in year one, and the total now stands at 33,000 in year two. One reason for this is the Right to Build needs better promotion: even some seasoned self-builders I’ve met haven’t heard of it. Another is a number of people have dropped off the register – possibly because a council charges a fee to be on the list, or now applies a local connection test for eligibility. Done in the right way, these policies make sense: maintaining a register and identifying plots to permission takes up cash-stripped authorities’ resources; while delivering housing for local people will inevitably take priority.