About the All Party Parliamentary Group on Self-Build, Custom and Community Housebuilding and Placemaking
The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Self-Build, Custom and Community Housebuilding and Placemaking was founded in 2013 by South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon to campaign for consumers and community groups to have better access to serviced plots of land to bring forward their own self-build projects or to commission a builder to build exactly what they wanted.
There is very considerable pent-up demand in the UK from people who would like to build their own homes, but while self-build and custom housebuilding is a normal part of the landscape in many advanced countries such as The Netherlands and Germany, there is still more to do in the UK.
After establishing the APPG, Richard Bacon introduced and steered through Parliament a private member’s Bill which is now the Self-Build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015. The Act provides for local authorities to keep a register of those who wish to bring forward their own self-build projects. Further impending changes in the current Housing & Planning Bill will make it easier for individuals and groups on such a local register to find serviced plots of land.
The aim of the APPG is to ensure that acquiring a serviced plot of land – which buyers know will get planning permission for the house that they want to build – becomes completely normal in the UK.
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