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The Scottish housebuilding industry have called on the Scottish Government to issue a clear statement of intent on the need to deliver 25,000 new homes of all tenures each year and to mandate public agencies to work in partnership with developers across sectors to achieve this. According to trade body Homes for Scotland (HFS), this would generate greater investment confidence, helping to boost the wider economy as well as providing much needed homes across the country. The call is part of a package of measures submitted to the Scottish Government to ensure the longer-term sustainability of the home building sector as it strives to recover from the impact of the Coronavirus. HFS Chief Executive Nicola Barclay said: “As the First Minister acknowledged […]

Last month, the government wielded an axe to the current planning system, publishing proposals which will require local authorities to introduce their own local design codes. Now the Housing Secretary, Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP, has announced that he has appointed Nicholas Boys Smith to establish a new design body, tasked with driving up design standards and supporting local communities to produce design codes defining beautiful design in each community. Nicholas will chair a new steering group that will advise government on how best to help communities set these local rules for local developments and ensure that for the first time in history beauty, design and high environmental standards are fundamental to every planning application. The new design body will support communities

Property transactions bounced back in August but are still far short of the levels seen last year, according to the latest government data. The provisional seasonally adjusted estimate of UK residential transactions in August 2020 is 81,280, 16.3% lower than August 2019 and 15.6% higher than July 2020. The provisional non-seasonally adjusted estimate of UK residential transactions in August 2020 is 84,910, 23.9% lower than August 2019 and 6.1% higher than July 2020. Mark Harris, chief executive of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients, said: “Despite only being introduced the previous month, the stamp duty holiday was already filtering through to transaction numbers in August as buyers rushed to take advantage of the saving. Despite the recovery in number of transactions compared with the previous