Forty years ago, according to the HBF, SME housebuilders’ share of the market was 40%; today it is just 10%. This represents a significant threat to the country’s ability to deliver the required number of homes, let alone meet the government’s ambitious housing targets, as new entrants and small firms have proved fundamental in contributing to upswings in housing supply.

The government clearly recognises the importance of SME housebuilders: in its recent planning reform working paper, Speeding Up Build Out it outlines a strategy to support the growth of SME developers building on small sites. It addresses key barriers, including delays in planning, regulatory burdens, the availability of suitable sites and access to finance.

Separately, the government’s Reforming Site Thresholds working paper considers the potential easing of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) requirements for smaller sites.

Such a move would bring about considerable benefits. Recent research by the HBF, based on a survey of housebuilders and a Freedom of Information request from local authorities, found that 98% of SME builders find implementing BNG a challenge. Furthermore, a Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management survey reported that a considerable majority of ecologists (84%) experienced BNG causing ‘major problems’ for small sites, with a further 14.9% citing ‘minor problems’. Specifically, ‘difficulty in on site delivery’ is a major issue for 86.4% of respondents.

And the reality is that the difficulty in delivering BNG on smaller sites is disproportionate to the number of homes they deliver. A recent Freedom of Information request by Wildlife and Countryside Link revealed that 609 hectares of offsite land has been set aside for nature recovery, compared to just 93 hectares onsite. Onsite provision is less than 13% of the government’s forecast. Furthermore, with the cost of acquiring BNG credits varying across the country, it means smaller schemes in some areas have been rendered unviable.