Gove details SME measures and staircases update

The government is to introduce SME-only sales of Homes England land, according to a written ministerial statement (WMS) from levelling up secretary Michael Gove, also providing an update on second staircases guidance.

In a Long Term Plan for Housing update following measures announced last week, Gove gave details of support to SME housebuilders. He wrote that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) would help “tackle SME access to land” through sales of Homes England land targeted solely at smaller companies, with pilots of the measure beginning in the South East and Midlands “later this year”.

The move, he said, would develop “a pipeline of future small sites by parcelling Homes England land”.

Gove also said the government would update CIL guidance “to make clear that CIL-charging authorities should consider the impact of CIL rates on SME developers and should not set higher residential CIL rates on minor development”.

This follows a “number” of CIL charging authorities setting higher CIL rates for schemes of less than ten units because of the absence of affordable housing on them. This was “not within the spirit” of policy on small sites, Gove wrote.