Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of Right to Build legislation on demand for self and custom build housing development.

The Government strongly believes that self and custom build housing can play a crucial role as part of a wider package of measures to boost home ownership and diversify the housing market as well as helping to deliver the homes people want.

We have put in place a number of interventions to support the sector, including the Self-build and Custom Housebuilding legislation, sometimes known as 'the Right to Build', which is focussed on bringing forward more land. In the last reporting period to October 2022, local authorities reported that there was a total of 63,662 individuals and 807 associations on the register in total.

The Government has also provided access to developer finance through the Levelling up Home Building Fund; provided support for local authorities to bring forward self and custom build projects through the Brownfield Land Release Fund and the Right to Build Task Force; and provided access to affordable mortgage finance through the Help to Build: Equity Loan Scheme.

In 2021 the Government commissioned Richard Bacon MP to undertake a review to establish a plan to scale up self and custom build housing. The Government published its response to these recommendations in June 2022.