STORY
The Government today announced a sweeping set of reforms and financial measures designed to turbocharge smaller housebuilders and accelerate the delivery of thousands of new homes across England. Unveiled by Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner, the package simplifies planning rules, eases regulatory burdens and unlocks fresh funding for small and medium-sized enterprises, aiming to deliver 1.5 million homes under the Government’s Plan for Change milestone.
Under the new framework, developments of up to nine homes will benefit from faster, officer-led decisions and streamlined Biodiversity Net Gain requirements, removing the need for many small-scale schemes to return to full planning committees. Meanwhile, sites of 10–49 homes will enter a newly created “medium site” category, exempt from the Building Safety Levy and subject to simplified environmental rules, cutting costs and speeding up delivery.
To bolster land supply and financing, Homes England will reserve more of its estates exclusively for SMEs, and a forthcoming National Housing Delivery Fund will offer long-term credit facilities and lending alliances tailored to smaller builders. Additionally, a pilot “Small Sites Aggregator” will launch in Bristol, Sheffield and Lewisham to bundle hard-to-develop plots and attract private investment, with a focus on creating new social rent homes in underused urban areas.
The announcement is backed by a further £100 million in SME Accelerator Loans from an expanded Home Building Fund, £10 million for local authorities to recruit environmental specialists, and a £1.2 million PropTech Innovation Fund to spur digital solutions for site delivery. Together, officials say, these steps will restore SMEs’ share of the market—once 40% in the 1980s—and support the training of the next generation of construction apprentices.
Angela Rayner said, “For decades, smaller housebuilders have been hamstrung by red tape and high costs. Today, we’re levelling the playing field so they can deliver the homes our communities desperately need and get working people onto the housing ladder.”