Amendments to Planning and Infrastructure Bill declared
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has announced amendments to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to “get Britain building faster”.
The changes include proposing new ministerial powers to prevent local authorities from rejecting planning applications, and preventing planning permissions from being ‘timed out’ for approved major housing schemes facing long judicial reviews.
MHCLG said it would build on existing measures to support the “full potential” of the Bill, which will be put before the House of Lords next week.
Thousands of retrofit homes require repair work
A National Audit Office survey has found that almost all homes fitted with external insulation under Government retrofit schemes require remediation work to correct “major issues”.
The survey revealed that 98% of homes given external wall insulation under the Energy Company Obligation 4 and Great British Insulation Scheme will require repairs, affecting almost 23,000 homes.
Construction output falls
Official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have estimated that monthly construction output fell by -0.3% in August 2025.
The ONS has also revised its previous growth estimate for construction output in July 2025 to zero.
New work did increase by 0.5% in the month, with the decrease in monthly output coming solely from a -1.5% fall in repair and maintenance work.
However, overall growth in the three months to August 2025 rose by 0.3%.
Developer and supply chain updates
Barratt Redrow and Persimmon have launched a scheme allowing homebuyers to purchase new homes with just a 5% deposit (instead of the usual higher down-payment) to broaden access to ownership.
The initiative aims to make new-build homes more affordable and stimulate sales across the housebuilding sector.
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Over the year to 31 July 2025, Bellway saw its housing completions increase by 14.3 % to 8,749 homes.
Revenue climbed 16.9 % to £2,782.8m, while its underlying operating profit jumped 27.5 % to £303.5m, giving an improved margin of 10.9 % (versus 10.0 % in the prior year).
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Matthew Pratt has been appointed CEO of McCarthy Stone, replacing John Tonkiss.
Pratt, who was previously CEO at Redrow, will begin his new role on 01 January 2026.
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