The Government has made its housing ambitions clear. Britain needs more homes, and increasing housing targets is an important part of addressing that challenge.
But setting a target and delivering a home are two very different things.
Between identifying how many homes an area needs and somebody receiving the keys to a new property sits a lengthy and increasingly complex development process.
Land has to be identified. Sites have to be allocated or otherwise supported through planning policy. Planning permission has to be secured. Technical and infrastructure constraints need to be resolved. Development has to remain commercially viable. And ultimately, a housebuilder needs to be willing and able to acquire the site and build the homes.
At Muller Property Group, we operate within that process every day.
From our perspective, the housing debate needs to focus not only on how many homes we want to build, but how effectively we convert housing need into homes on the ground.
Housing targets aren’t a housing site
Housing targets establish the scale of growth required, but they don’t tell us precisely where those homes can realistically be delivered.
That distinction matters.
Every local authority needs a sufficient pipeline of suitable sites capable of accommodating development. Those sites need to be in locations where growth can be supported and where constraints relating to access, infrastructure, drainage, ecology, landscape and other considerations can realistically be addressed.
This is particularly important when housing requirements increase.
Raising the number of homes an authority needs to accommodate without ensuring there is a corresponding supply of suitable land risks creating a gap between national ambition and local delivery.
For landowners, this also creates opportunity.
Land which may not previously have been considered for development can become increasingly important as authorities look for sustainable locations capable of meeting their future housing requirements.
Identifying that potential early is the first step.
An allocation isn’t a planning permission
Securing an allocation within a Local Plan can represent an important milestone for a site.
But it is only one milestone.
Before homes can be built, detailed work is required to establish how development can actually take place.
Highways and access must be addressed. Drainage strategies need to be developed. Ecological impacts and Biodiversity Net Gain requirements have to be understood. Landscape, heritage and other environmental considerations may need mitigation. Education, healthcare and other infrastructure requirements must also be considered.
For larger strategic sites, these issues become even more complex.
This is why successful land promotion begins well before a planning application is submitted.
At Muller Property Group, we invest in understanding these issues at an early stage, building the technical evidence needed to demonstrate not simply that land could accommodate development, but that it represents a sustainable and deliverable proposition.
A planning permission isn’t a development-ready site
Securing planning permission is often seen as the finishing line.
In reality, it can be another stage in the process.
A consent may still be subject to planning conditions, Section 106 obligations, infrastructure requirements and other matters that need to be resolved before development can commence.
There is also the question of viability.
Development has to absorb the combined cost of land, construction, finance, affordable housing, infrastructure, environmental mitigation, Biodiversity Net Gain and other planning obligations.
Each requirement may be entirely justified in isolation. But their cumulative impact ultimately determines whether a scheme remains commercially deliverable.
That distinction is important.
A planning permission that cannot realistically be implemented does not solve the housing shortage.
The objective should therefore be not simply to increase the number of permissions granted, but to increase the supply of development-ready land that the housebuilding market can actually take forward.
A development-ready site isn’t a completed home
Even once a site is ready for development, homes do not appear overnight.
A housebuilder still needs to acquire the land, commit capital, undertake detailed design and infrastructure work and bring homes onto the market.
The rate at which those homes are built will also be influenced by local market conditions.
Housebuilders cannot simply release an unlimited number of properties into a local market simultaneously. Sales rates, mortgage affordability, consumer confidence, construction costs and access to finance all influence the pace of delivery.
This is particularly relevant when considering larger strategic developments.
A site with consent for hundreds or thousands of homes may represent a significant contribution to an area’s long-term housing supply, but those homes will typically be delivered over a number of years.
That doesn’t mean the site isn’t delivering.
It means housing policy needs to recognise the commercial realities of turning planning permissions into occupied homes.
We should measure conversion, not just ambition
This is where we believe the housing debate needs to evolve.
Housing targets are important because they establish ambition.
But we should also be asking how effectively the development system converts that ambition into delivery.
How successfully are we converting housing need into suitable sites?
How effectively are we converting allocations into planning permissions?
How quickly are permissions becoming development-ready land?
And how efficiently is that land being converted into completed homes?
Looking at housing delivery in this way changes the conversation.
If land is being identified but not allocated, we need to understand why.
If allocated sites are not securing permission, we need to identify the barriers.
If permissions cannot be implemented, we need to examine infrastructure, viability and technical constraints.
And if development-ready sites are not being built, we need to understand what is happening in the housebuilding and consumer markets.
Simply increasing the target does not address each of these different problems.
Understanding where sites are becoming stuck in the pipeline does.
The importance of a healthy land pipeline
Today’s housing completions are the result of decisions and investment made years earlier.
This is particularly true for larger developments, where promoting land, securing an allocation, obtaining planning permission and preparing a site for the market can take many years.
That means future housing delivery depends on maintaining a healthy pipeline today.
We need enough land entering the promotion process, enough sites progressing through Local Plans, enough planning applications coming forward and enough development-ready opportunities reaching housebuilders.
If that pipeline narrows at any point, the consequences may not become apparent in completion figures for several years.
This is why strategic land promotion plays such an important role.
Land promoters are prepared to invest time, expertise and significant capital at the earliest and often highest-risk stage of the development process.
We identify opportunities, undertake technical investigations, engage with local authorities and communities, promote land through Local Plans and planning applications and work to resolve the issues that could otherwise prevent development.
In doing so, we help turn land with potential into land capable of delivering homes.
What does this mean for landowners?
For landowners, the changing housing and planning landscape creates an important opportunity to reconsider the potential of their land.
The publication of the new NPPF and the Government’s wider planning reforms have reinforced the national emphasis on housing delivery. But whether an individual site has development potential will always depend on much more than national policy.
Its relationship with an existing settlement, access to transport and services, infrastructure requirements, environmental constraints and the level of housing need locally will all be important.
Crucially, land does not necessarily need to be allocated today to warrant investigation.
Strategic land promotion is a long-term process. By assessing opportunities and constraints early, landowners can put themselves in a stronger position as Local Plans evolve and authorities look for suitable locations to accommodate future growth.
At Muller Property Group, we fund and manage that process on behalf of landowners, taking on the cost and risk associated with promoting land through the planning system.
Our objective is to establish the strongest possible planning case, address constraints and ultimately create a development opportunity capable of attracting the housebuilding market.
From housing targets to homes
There is no single solution to Britain’s housing challenge.
We need ambitious housing targets. We need a planning system that supports sustainable growth. We need infrastructure investment. We need viable development. We need housebuilders confident enough to invest. And we need landowners willing to bring suitable sites forward.
Most importantly, those different parts of the system need to connect.
Because there is a significant difference between identifying housing need and delivering a home.
Target → suitable site → allocation → planning permission → development-ready land → housebuilder → completed home.
Every stage matters.
If we want to increase housing delivery, the question should not simply be whether the target is high enough.
We should be asking where suitable sites are becoming stuck, why they are becoming stuck and what needs to change to get them moving again.
At Muller Property Group, that is where we see the role of strategic land promotion: investing at the beginning of the process, resolving barriers and helping create the pipeline of deliverable sites on which future housing supply depends.
