Planning for new homes plunges to record low

The HBF warned that the housing pipeline is significantly smaller now than it was even during the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis. It added: “The figures also illustrate the stark challenge a new Government faces to increase housing supply in the coming years highlighting the need for ministers to work closely with the industry to fix the planning system, provide effective assistance to prospective first-time buyers and unblock the estimated 160,000 new homes still unnecessarily held up by a …