The CIHT have had a joint letter published in The Guardian newspaper, on the topic of housing and infrastructure. The letter was co-signed by CIHT Chief Executive Sue Percy alongside a variety of other figures within the sector and was published on 11 October 2015.

 

The letter reads:

"The level of the annual shortfall in housing delivery suggests that a step change is needed in the very mechanisms whereby houses are delivered (Crisis, what housing crisis? We just need fresh thinking, 1 October). This, however, is not just about building houses; it’s about place creation, which means delivering social, environmental and physical infrastructure alongside housing.

In the present climate we cannot look only to public spending to do this. It is time to look for additional funding from the windfall in value which goes directly to private landowners when public  investment in infrastructure is made, or planning permission is granted on a piece of land. There needs to be a fairer way of sharing this land value uplift between landowners and the community, to fund the housing and infrastructure the country needs. As a coalition we are asking for the UK government to put in place a mechanism whereby a proportion of this increase in land value is used to fund public goods. It’s time to tap into this source of additional public funding. It’s time for a fair deal on land.

 

Trudi Elliott Chief executive officer, Royal Town Planning Institute

Tom Papworth Senior fellow, Adam Smith Institute

Campbell Robb CEO, Shelter

David Orr Chief executive, National Housing Federation

Kate Henderson Chief executive officer, Town and Country Planning Association

Jon Sparkes Chief executive, Crisis

Terrie Alafat Chief executive, Chartered Institute of Housing

Stephen Howlett Chief executive, Peabody

Mark Walton Executive director, Shared Assets

Sue Percy Chief executive, Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation

Caroline Julian Head of policy programmes, ResPublica"

 

To view the letter in full on the Guardian website, please click here.