This whole thing is massively confusing to people. I have had long exchanges of emails from people who have asked to be placed on the Register, have been placed on it and then don't understand why a plot of land is not being found (provided/given) to them. People with specific requirements on location who basically want land cheap/free so that they can build a house in a certain location. I have had to email them and say that if the Council just gave away land then everyone would want to be on the Register. The thing that the Register does not get into is ownership...which is the key.
But apart from that, it is the 'duties' placed on LPAs that do not make sense. I read the Regs a while back and thought 'this wont work'. I have recently read the new addition to the PPG RE Self and Custom House Building Registers and it still seems bonkers to me
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The 'duties' include "Relevant authorities must give suitable development permission to enough suitable serviced plots of land to meet the demand for self-build and custom housebuilding in their area. The level of demand is established by reference to the number of entries added to an authority’s register during a base period."
The 'LEVEL OF DEMAND IS ESTABLISHED BY THE NUMBER OF ENTRIES ADDED TO AN AUTHORITY'S REGISTER'. Well, we haven't had many entries (because I guess that generally people don't want to self build here) but what I have noticed is that people asking to be on our register have also applied (and in many cases bee accepted) onto other LPA registers. I know other authorities who know that individuals have applied and been placed on multiple registers. There is nothing for example, to stop a person applying to be placed on every register in the country. I have today received a request where the person making the application to be on our Register has indicated that they have already applied to be placed on four other authority registers and intend to apply to more. Their ambition is to build an environmentally friendly home. They don't care where, so they have applied to several authorities and will apply to more.
Therefore the 'duty to grant planning permission' based on the level of demand (which is established by reference to the number of entries on an authority's register), is nonsense. It would potentially massively exaggerate REAL demand.
Further, as far as I can tell the duty to grant planning permission to meet needs could be met by ANY extant permission for a new build dwelling (which was capable of being serviced at some point). There is no expectation that the site is physically connected to services. Any new build C3 could meet the requirement. We do not grant planning permission for 'Self Build Houses'. Again, this is about ownership. We have lots of permissions for C3 dwellings to be built so a person seeking to self build could buy one of those.
The above are my personal views and not necessarily the views of my authority.
