Carlisle City Council has been nominated for a national award that recognises the council’s support for custom and self-build housing schemes.
The council has been shortlisted in the Build It 2020 awards in the Best Council for Self or Custom Build category. The winners of the awards will be announced on Friday 27 November.
The government is keen to increase and diversify housing delivery, and local authorities have been required to keep a Custom & Self-Build register since 2015, with a further requirement to grant sufficient planning permissions to meet the demand on the register introduced the following year. This reflects the government’s desire for more people to build or commission their own homes.
Although starting from a historically low base in terms of self-build delivery, the award nomination is in recognition of the City Council’s work to establish future demand and develop proactive self-build planning policies; especially in respect of the emerging St Cuthbert’s Garden Village, as well as setting up a grants programme to help people on the Custom & Self-Build register, towards the cost of developing their own home.
Positive Initiatives introduced by the Council include over the last two years include:
- In 2019 Carlisle City Council commissioned the Right to Build Task Force to provide a package of guidance on a series of issues around planning for custom and self-build homes as part of new development across the District, including St Cuthbert’s Garden Village, which will feature over 10,000 new quality homes alongside associated infrastructure, such as the Carlisle Southern Link Road.
- This work was followed up in 2020 by a detailed local demand assessment, commissioned through the Right to Build Task Force working with Custom Build Homes, providing the Council with a detailed survey and analysis of current local demand, which will also inform future self-build housing policy; especially around the Garden Village.
- In September 2020, the Council launched a Custom & Self-Build grant incentive programme to provide people on the Council’s Custom & Self-Build register with funding of up to £2,000 towards the set-up costs (including Planning and Building Control charges as well as architect fees) of their self-build project.
St Cuthbert’s Garden Village is also considered likely to prove a popular location for people looking to build their dream home.
Cllr Paul Nedved, Portfolio holder for Economy, Enterprise and Housing, said: “I’d like to thank all our officers for their hard work supporting these type of housing schemes. There has been lots of positives steps taken and I’m delighted to see the work of Carlisle City Council recognised at a national level.”
The Build It Awards, in association with BuildStore, are the most sought after accolade within the self-build industry. They recognise excellence across the board in self-build products, services, suppliers and projects. Find out more at https://builditawards.co.uk/
