Build, build, build isn't much use as mantra if you then leave the new homes sitting empty for a year or more while the Building Safety Regulator gets round to approving them. This process used to take a matter of days when local authorities were in charge of it. news.sky.com/story/bluesk...
It was in the LA's interest. Sooner it was signed off, the sooner it was on the Valuation List & the sooner the Council Tax income increased.
True. The complete lack of incentive on the new Regulator to work efficiently and get new homes built is part of the issue. Though a lack of directly employed skilled staff is the main issue I think.
I recall when an authority I worked for had a shortage, the impact on Council Tax income incentivised the Management Team to second, for a fixed term, a qualified officer from another department. A single focused regulator doesn't have that flexibility.
The 1,210 empty newbuild homes reported on here are the tip of the iceberg, as only a small proportion of applications have got through the earlier part of the process - most are still waiting for approval to be built.
The new homes sitting empty include social housing. bsky.app/profile/hous...
Is this another of one the coalitions legacies?
The new Building Safety Regulator was set up by the previous government (2019-24 Government).
2022 Act?
Yes
Local authorities showed disregard for people’s lives. The biggest home builders have allegedly been caught price fixing, some cheek talking about costs.
While labour has already increased approvals massively there's clearly a lot more to be done. It sounds like there's issues on both sides, paperwork - which is always a contentious subject - and the amount of regulators must be an issue. Hopefully more progress can be made soon.
It isn’t a case of ‘gets round to approving them’. There simply aren’t enough UK building engineers qualified to the high standard required to do the work for the BSR. We simply can’t have another Grenfell, so if developers/councils want to build tower blocks they need to factor time into the plans.
I know this as one of my best friends is one of the few engineers.