Lib Dem housing spokesperson Gideon Amos OBE MP says small builders should be able to put up a “couple of houses” without planning permission – as he backs FMB‘s call to licence the industry and stop rogue builders, which the FMB found has cost the economy £14.3 billion over the last 5 years.
Small builders should be freed from planning permission altogether to build a handful of homes at a time, the Liberal Democrats’ housing spokesperson has said – as he threw his weight behind trade body calls to licence the construction industry and drive out cowboy builders.
Gideon Amos MP, the Lib Dem spokesperson for housing and communities and MP for Tiverton and Wellington, made the pledge in an interview with the Federation of Master Builders’ podcast, Build Up From the Basement podcast.
Mr Amos, who is a chartered architect and former town planner, said he was exploring plans to expand permitted development rights so small builders could construct a small number of houses without going through the planning system at all — in the same way homeowners can build an extension without permission.”Why not be able to build a couple of houses without paying permission, provided you stick within the same kind of rules,” he said.
“I’d be really interested in exploring how we can free up a whole sector from planning control. They can still meet the same standards. If there’s an infrastructure levy to pay, they could pay the levy.” The former CEO of the Town and Country Planning Association also confirmed he is actively looking at whether the Liberal Democrats will adopt FMB’s flagship policy of licensing builders, to protect consumers from rogue operators.”
We all come across people who’ve been let down by cowboy builders — those who close down a company on Friday and open a new one on Monday,” Mr Amos said. “I’m actively looking at whether the Liberal Democrats could incorporate that as our policy.”
FMB research shows rogue builders have cost consumers £14.3 billion over the past five years, with the economy losing out on £11.2 billion a year as 1 in 5 are put off doing domestic building work.Mr Amos also took aim at the Government’s skills system, revealing that more than £3 billion of the apprenticeship levy was handed back to the Treasury unused between 2020 and 2023, and warning that 200,000 EU workers have left UK construction since 2019.”If that doesn’t help to underline what a disaster Brexit has been for our country, I don’t know what does,” he said.
On why so few young people are choosing construction careers — with FMB research showing fewer than half of parents would recommend the industry to their child — Mr Amos said the sector needed to do more to show off the scale of the opportunity, pointing to major projects such as Hinkley Point and the Agratas battery factory near his constituency.
He also called for councils to be given more support to build social housing and unlock stalled sites, warning that simply issuing more planning permissions won’t fix the housing crisis while 13,000 approved homes in Somerset alone remain unbuilt.
FMB Chief Executive Brian Berry added:
“It’s very encouraging that the Liberal Democrats are taking the problem of rogue builders seriously. It was brilliant to have Gideon on the podcast as well as seeing him at our recent licencing event in Parliament. A staggering £14.3 billion has been lost to cowboy builders over the last five years and behind every statistic are homeowners left with homes that are half-finished and families out of pocket with nowhere to turn. Licensing building companies is the single biggest step the Government could take to protect consumers and back reputable small builders who are the backbone of the construction sector.”