Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to implement the recommendations of the Bacon review into scaling up self-build and custom housebuilding.

The Government has taken forward a number of interventions to support self and custom build in line with our response to the Bacon Review published in June 2022. This includes: continuing to make loan funding available to custom build developers through the £1.5 billion Levelling Up Home Building Fund; funding the release of plots for self and custom build through the Brownfield Land Release Fund; launching the Help to Build: Equity Loan scheme for people who want to build their own homes; amending the Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015 through the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 to improve the implementation of the 2015 Act and increase the amount of land granted planning permission for self and custom build; and establishing the Self Commissioned Homes Delivery Unit within Homes England to accelerate and maximise the delivery of self-commissioned homes - which include self and custom build and community led homes - within existing programmes.

In December 2023, the Government updated the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) further to support self and custom build and we will consult shortly, on further regulations to ensure that only planning permission specifically for self and custom build housing will count against an authority’s duties under the 2015 Act. We are working to ensure that the Help to Build scheme serves its intended purpose to widen access to self and custom build for those without substantial cash reserves.