<p>The HBF is tackling misconceptions about housebuilders through a raft of new research aimed at providing hard evidence on issues such as customer care, section 106 agreements and the planning system. “We are concerned that some of the official statistics being quoted by the Department for Communities and Local Government don’t tell the real story of what goes on in the planning system,” said HBF executive chairman Stewart Baseley. </p> <p>“Nobody in the DCLG has practical experience of the industry so a lot of the theory discussed is not based on real evidence. “Housing minister Yvette Cooper recently claimed that only 40% of medium to large scale planning applications have section 106 agreements. So we have asked our major homebuilder members to look at how many of their schemes of ten-plus units have a section 106, because we think the figure is closer to 75%.” He added: “There is also a perception that housebuilders are not doing anything in terms of improving customer care. So we want to gather evidence that will enable us to talk about what’s being done to change behaviour and drive out bad practices.” </p>