Huge expansion of Cardiff approved by planners

Part of the problem is that the number of SME builders and developers has dropped by around 80% since the 2008 crash. That's tightened the big boys grip on the market. Maybe the WG should consider a scheme similar to the one being planned in England where public land is being brought to market with outline planning consent aimed as SME builders.

I agree with Ash. The problem, to some extent, is that the market isn't working because its not competitive-enough a market. One issue is the decline in small builders who will often build more quickly, and provide competition to the bigger boys through developing smaller, niche developments.

But also, the planning system gives some degree of market power (and thats why I think planning is still an issue in housing shortages). Its expensive and time-consuming to get planning permission.Once you get it, you can then sit on your land, waiting for demand to push up prices. In a normal, well-functioning market, those rising prices would bring in new entrants and competition... so you wouldn't want to hold off developing. But in the housing market, the expense and delay of getting planning means you can always start building before the competition can, making it harder for them to sell their houses. Just the threat of the incumbant being able to do this can discourage entry of others into the market.

So I think we do need a quicker and cheaper planning system, as that might help. If its not enough, maybe a bigger role for the public sector to commission building via competitive tender, especially for large greenfield or brownfield schemes.

The thing is that land will always be of limited supply. There isn't an endless amount of it after all. It's rather like a clothes manufacturer buying up the world's supply of cotton and therefore stopping their rivals from being able to supply anything. You can then drip feed the stuff to the public making sure it's scarce enough so the price remains high. Of course you can always produce more cotton (or other material to make clothes with) so it would never work. Land is different.

One wonders if the big developers are behaving like OPEC. It's amazing that the UK population increases by 0.6% a year and housebuilding is the lowest since the 1920s. Where is the outrage? Where is the demand for something better? Instead we sit back and accept the mediocrity of Cameronism.

Rather than land banking maybe the main developers know when they can and cannot sell houses.

Those that think housebuilders land bank to watch prices increase aren't thinking clearly. The land has already been acquired and the sales price of the local housing market isn't determined by the availability of land alone. Furthermore, developers spend huge sums on land and the planning process - itself designed to slow down economic development and restrict growth and job creation - is laborious, costly and time consuming. It's unlikely that a developer will acquire land and go through the byzantine planning process only to sit on land once the state has graciously granted permission for houses to built for those who are homeless.

Yet again I agree with the fact that there can sometimes be concerns of delays during the planning process, butcan you imagine just how many more Mediocre and completely crap developments we would have on our hands, which would have no regard to matters such as affordable housing creation etc, if the market was left to build on its own? What a mess.

The attempts this government are making at speeding this process up is pathetic and dangerous given that they are still cutting Council budgets and talking about 'permission in principle' in some places.

The attempts this government are making at speeding this process up is pathetic and dangerous given that they are still cutting Council budgets and talking about 'permission in principle' in some places.

I presume this is a reference to the Housing and Planning Bill currently before Parliament in Westminster. That bill won't apply to Wales, of course, but that in itself could cause problems. Developers already complain that planning and building regs in Wales are more onerous than in England and that gap could grow as a result of the bill.

It's a bit of a dilemma for Cardiff Bay - do you join a race to the bottom on planning and building regs or try and seek a smarter solution to speeding up and simplifying the process?

As a business why would you tie up capital in land purchase, planning and design costs and not build? The only reason I can think of is because you want to maximise your profits by delaying building until a time when you are able to achieve the best return. That is the whole point of private enterprise and I don't blame housbuilders for doing that - if they didn't try to maximise profits they would be breaching their fiduciary duty. The laws of supply and demand are that the greater the demand the higher the price. If all the main housebuilders come to an agreement that they crack on and build 26,000 houses in Cardiff in the next few years they would be acting contrary to their own best interests.

If it is assumed that there are not enough houses being built in the right area's this creates a problem for a growing number of people (mostly young people). In order to alleviate that problem more houses need to be built. But the law of supply and demand means that this won't happen in any great hurry unless building houses (rather than waiting for the best time to release housing onto the market) is a more profitable way to proceed. This either means incentives for building or penalties for not building or a mixture of the two,.

The problem is excacerbated by a lack of competition, the inability of local authorities to build in any great numbers and a planning process that is expensive for new entrants into the market.

The figures are clear. Almost half a million units have been given planning permission but are yet to commence construction. This isn't because no-one is interested in buying property at the moment - quite the opposite. To suggest otherwise is being wilfully obtuse.

Could it be the housebuilders don't yet have either the cash, available labour or supply chain to build?

Could it be that housebuilders know just how corrupt and immoral the state is and appreciates all too well the state will go out of its way to slow down the housebuilding process, hence have to land bank in advance. Changes in LA administration can turn a previous unofficial permission in to an official 'over my dead body'

I also don't buy into the fact that housebuilders will value engineer housing if there was an absence of planning. We don't see car manufacturers doing this - in fact we see quire the opposite. This claim is nothing more than dogmatic hogwash from statist control freaks who can't appreciate that it is possible to create quality outside the confines of the state

and another thing...if housebuilders are to blame for the shortage and are guilty of land banking to drive up prices...what the hell has been going on at Ely Paper Mill. state owned, state sanctioned, yet no fucking action. swerve that statists

its bollocks that the housebuilders are to blame. there are many reasons why houses aren't being built

1. lack of finance to purchase - you can't demand the banks lend more responsibly then complain when they stop lending
2. lack of suitably skilled workers
3. lack of cash from housebuilders
4. red tape - it doesn't stop when permission is granted, the red tape and paperwork is panhandled daily through the letterbox

Could it be the housebuilders don't yet have either the cash, available labour or supply chain to build?

Yes it could be that housebuilders don't have the cash - buying land and going through a planning process with no intention of building in the forseeable future thereby tieing up capital might cause cashflow problems. Interest rates for borrowing are at an all time low so there is access to the money markets if housebuilders are so minded.

I also think there is a skills shortage, that's a difficult one to remedy overnight other than through skilled migrant labour - Auf Wiedersein Pet in reverse. Supply chains I know nothing about.

The rest of your post I'm not touching with a bargepole. I now have a mental image of you wearing a hat made out of tin foil and David Icke on speed dial....