Villagers could be given new powers over local house building

The Government has outlined plans to give local rural communities the power to build homes, or set aside plots for people to build their own homes, without seeking council planning permission.

The new ‘Community Right to Build’ initiative is part of the Government’s ‘Big Society’ idea of allowing more decisions to be made by local people, and stems from the fact that many people are forced to leave their villages because they cannot afford to purchase a house there.

Under the plans, villages would be allowed to create local housing trusts and hold a referendum to decide if house building should be permitted. Housing minister Grant Shapps has suggested that this would only involve small developments of fewer than 20 homes and that “overwhelming” support from local communities would be needed before any new building could take place.

However, the new proposals, which will be part of the forthcoming Decentralisation and Localism Bill, have been criticised by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), as they could lead to building on green belt land. CPRE argues that there should be proper scrutiny of house building by democratically-elected councillors rather than a simple public referendum.

This announcement follows the Government’s recent decision to scrap Regional Strategies and their centrally-imposed building targets – another step by the Government to transfer centrally-held powers to local communities.