03/03/2015
Headlines
3 March 2015
England Rural Development Programme: act now as grants start to open and application windows are tight Water capital grants of up to £10,000 are available for works to improve water management and quality. The application window is small and closes on 30 April 2015. We have produced a schedule of the opening windows of grants, which are subject to change.
Affordable housing review: a fair deal for rural communities This review, chaired by Lord Richard Best, has made 12 recommendations to help reduce the affordable housing crisis in rural areas (and rural areas do face special difficulties): More sites 1. Reverse the Government’s policy of not requiring affordable homes on sites of less than 10 homes 2. Introduce incentives to encourage land owners to develop rural affordable housing, through tax incentives and / or nomination rights 3. Require all local authorities to complete their Local Plan preparation within two years Affordability 4. Exclude rural areas from the “spare room subsidy withdrawal” (aka bedroom tax) because there are so few opportunities for rural tenants in houses to move to 1 or 2 bedroom flats in villages 5. Give rural local authorities the power to suspend the Right to Buy where affordable housing is scarce 6. A new national minimum target for delivery of rural housing 7. Allow the loan guarantee scheme to cover schemes of less than 25 homes to support small and medium sized builders and housing associations, as they are most active on small sites Maintaining affordability 8. Allow housing associations to charge affordable rents, based on local incomes, and not 80% of market rents, which is currently required for HCA funding 9. Reduce the impact of second home ownership in areas of housing shortages by allowing local authorities to require new housing (all or some) to be principal residences 10. Require the Council of Mortgage Lenders to produce a standardised mortgage form for rural affordable home ownership, as current forms do not support shared ownership Leadership 11. All housing policies should be properly rural proofed 12. The Government should support and fund neighbourhood planning and rural housing enablers Smiths Gore supports many, if not all, of the recommendations and was delighted to be asked to assist the Review and to provide a think piece on encouraging landowners to put forward sites for affordable houses.
Producing more with less impact: Christensen calls for UK farmers to rise to the challenge, in Edith Mary Gayton lecture, University of Reading Poul Christensen, past Chair of Natural England, was upbeat that farmers could produce enough food, at lower environmental cost, using new technologies, including plant breeding and precision farming. He said that farmers should set environmental as well as financial objectives and plans for their land. 100% agree!
Infrastructure Act This has now received Royal Assent and elements of it will shortly come into effect in England and Wales (and the community electricity right in Scotland): Part 1: The Highways Agency will become a government-owned ‘strategic highways company’. A late amendment was to require a national ‘cycling and walking investment strategy’, which will receive as much parliamentary scrutiny as roads strategy and other large infrastructure projects such as HS2. Part 3: animal and plant health bodies are given new powers to compel landowners to act, powers of entry for surveillance and to carry out work themselves in respect of invasive non-native species. There are also new criminal offences and new powers of entry. The new powers are largely based on the Law Commission’s consultation on its wildlife law review in 2012. Part 4: covers planning (nationally significant infrastructure projects, discharge of planning conditions), land and buildings (Homes and Communities Agency, Land Registry).
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Part 5: covers energy, including the controversial changes to landowners rights for energy extraction under their land: Petroleum exploitation (England and Wales) From 12 April 2015, energy companies will have a statutory right to use land more than 300m before the surface for the purposes of exploiting petroleum or deep geothermal energy. So landowner consent is not needed and compensation will not be payable, although a payment scheme may be set up and energy companies required to give landowners notice. Community electricity right (England, Wales and Scotland) From 1 June 2016, communities have the right to buy a stake in local renewable energy projects greater than 5MW.
Farming Climate change: warming is already slowing wheat yield gains in most growing locations The future global wheat harvest is likely to be reduced by 6% - or 42 million tonnes - per each degree Celsius of local temperature increase, according to a global collaborative research team. Harvests would also become more variable, so increasing volatility in world grain markets.
Personnel: regular overtime must now be included in worker’s statutory holiday pay Following two European decisions, the UK Court has said that non-guaranteed but regular overtime should be included in calculating a worker’s statutory holiday pay rights. Solicitors think that irregular overtime does not need to be included. Claims by workers for the extra holiday pay can be made for up to two years back and the situation is complicated.
Property Issues Neighbourhood planning: £22.5m for neighbourhoods to develop their plans This funding can be used to pay for events to engage the local community, print leaflets and to pay for specialist planning expertise, from now until April 2018.
Shooting: change in VAT legislation makes ‘sporting exemption’ more attainable The change, which came into effect on 1 January, means that administrative requirements on shoots wishing to claim the exemption will be significantly reduced. However, this remains a complex issue.
New Land Registry registration to protect against fraud This is a new service to reduce property transfer fraud. It is free for companies for up to three titles. Planning: High Court says local authorities cannot charge for monitoring planning conditions They can however claim fees for planning applications and discharges of conditions. Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government [2015] EWHC 186 (Admin).
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Residential Markets
The OECD has warned that the UK is still failing to build enough houses (new home building was up 8% in England in 2014 but still half needed levels), and that there are risks to financial stability from soaring house prices. House prices are now rising in all areas, apart from London, according to surveyors (RICS), who also expect the number of house sales to grow (although chronic undersupply remains due to over 20 years of not enough homes being built), due to mortgage competition between lenders as rates fall. The restraining Government policy of the Mortgage Market Review and loan-to-income caps are controlling higher risk lending while policies, such as Help-to-Buy, and historically low interest rates are boosting the number of house purchases (RICS) The number of house sales rose 21% in the first 10 months of 2014, compared with the previous year. All regions recorded an increase, although sales remained below the levels of 2007 (Lloyds) The government has confirmed that the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC) will be given new powers to set limits on debt-to-income ratios and loan-to-value ratios for mortgages, and
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over a leverage ratio framework for Britain’s banks. The Government is also going to consult on giving the FPC powers over the buy-to-let sector. The costs of renting a home over the last five years were nearly £4,000 more than for buying the same property. Five years ago it was £15 a month cheaper to rent, but now it is £62 more (Halifax) The number of private tenants is expected to grow by 600,000 over next four years; it has grown by 1 million in the last five years and the buy-to-let investor sector has grown by 2.6 million homes since 1996 (Countryside and Rightmove) Repossessions in the UK are at their lowest level since 2006, as mortgage affordability grows and unemployment falls.
Environment Renewable energy: Member States on target for 20% energy from renewable sources by 2020 However, the UK, Holland and Lithuania lag furthest behind, with less than 5% of energy needs from renewables. At EU level, the share of renewables increased to almost 15% in 2013; over half of this comes from biomass such as wood chip pellets. By 2050, the target will be 55 - 75% of final energy consumption if the EU’s decarbonisation plan is to remain on target.
Support wild bee populations to boost yields Orchards pollinated by a wide range of wild bee species grow more apples than those pollinated by fewer species, finds a new US study. Its authors suggest that farmers could consider investing in wild bee conservation to improve crop yield.
And finally… …and they all lived happily ever after Fighting broke out at an Indian wedding after the bride ditched the groom and married one of the guests instead. Jugal Kishore, 25, of Moradabad, suffered an epileptic fit as he was about to garland his would-be wife at the ceremony in Rampur. His bride, Indira, 23, from Rampur, angry that her family had been kept in the dark about Kishore's medical condition, promptly changed her mind. She announced that she would happily marry a guest at the wedding, Harpal Singh, her sister's brother-in-law, instead, reports the Times of India. Singh, caught unawares and dressed in jeans and a leather jacket, hesitated for a moment before agreeing to the proposal and the ceremony went off without a hitch. Kishore, meanwhile, who had been rushed to a doctor, returned to the venue after regaining consciousness to see that his wife-to-be was now someone else's. He and his family pleaded with Indira, telling her he would not be able to face friends and neighbours if he returned without her. And when persuasion failed violence broke out, as wedding guests fought using spoons, plates and dishes as weapons, but still Indira stood firm. Kishore and his relatives later lodged a complaint with police but this was withdrawn after consulatations with elders. A police spokesman said: "Both families have amicably resolved the matter. The complaints have been withdrawn. Kishore and his family have now returned in peace to Moradabad." Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this briefing, its information may not be comprehensive and recipients should not act upon it without seeking full professional advice. If you have queries regarding any of the articles, please contact jason.beedell@smithsgore.co.uk (01733 866562) or andrew.teanby@smithsgore.co.uk (01522 507310)
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