Those local authorities who have fallen behind are 9.2 years off the pace on average. Southend-on-Sea is 34 years behind, York is lagging by 25 years and Luton is running a 22 year deficit. Contributor Joseph Daniels, CEO – Project Etopia.
Councils have fallen more than six years behind their own house-building targets spelling disaster for Britain’s bid to end the housing crisis, new research by modular smart homes provider Project Etopia reveals. Development across the country is moving at such a glacial pace, local authorities are on average 6.2 years1 behind the rate of building needed to hit targets identified as part of the government’s 10-year plan ending in 2026.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government jointly set out annual housing targets with local authorities up to 2026 and published these in September 20171.
However, building in 316 locations identified by the study is set to fall short of housing need by 889,803 homes over the decade. Some of these areas (75) are keeping pace with housing requirements but just one year in, 241 locations are already in deficit, leaving them 9.2 years behind target on average.
If those councils not building fast enough do not speed up, they will miss their targets to the tune of 1,013,312 homes by 2026. Of the 10 councils which have fallen the furthest behind, it would take until between 2042 and 2060 for all the homes required by 2026 to be built.
Figures show Southend-on-Sea is by far the worst town or city outside London for meeting its targets, and is set to be 8,405 homes short of what it needs by the end of 2026 – if it does not speed up, it will take 34 more years to build that amount of housing stock.
York and Luton are the only other towns and cities that are more than 20 years behind – and all 10 councils with the biggest deficits are two decades off the pace on average.
The Project Etopia study found even councils with fewer homes to build, such as Gosport, Hants, which only needs to build 238 a year, have been struggling to meet their own targets. Gosport is 17 years behind. Councils have for years been prevented from building new housing stock themselves, leaving them at the mercy of developers whose building can be hampered by economic and planning constraints.
However, the Prime Minister announced at the Conservative Party Conference that the borrowing cap would be lifted to encourage local authorities to commission new developments. Preston, Lancs, was ahead of housing need by the biggest margin, with Scarborough, North Yorks, and Burnley, Lancs, close behind.
In London, the situation is even worse. Redbridge is in the worst shape in the country — 82.5 years behind its housing need. Boroughs are 19.2 years behind on average, and those that are in deficit lag their house building targets by 21.4 years. Come 2026, London boroughs are on target to have a shortfall of 429,973 homes.
Joseph Daniels, CEO of Project Etopia, commented: “It is alarming to see so many areas so far behind already. If the pace is not rapidly picked up, we will be in an even deeper black hole in 10 years’ time than we are in now. Housing need is plain for all to see but not enough is being done about it. There is an air of complacency — everyone knows we need to build more houses and fast, but not enough decisive action is being taken to ease the crisis.”
“Fresh ideas are vitally needed, and the most innovative and forward-thinking councils will have to include modern modular housing in their armoury. They can be built quickly, more economically, and still provide the standard of living people expect when they move into a new-build. The deficit is only going to grow unless councils think outside the box, and look for faster ways to build homes but retain quality — and modular housing offers this.”
Employers not offering coaching risk future performance and productivity
Research from City & Guilds Group demonstrates the value of coaching to the future of the UK workforce: 79 percent of UK professionals say they consider coaching useful for adopting new technologies and ways of working
London 6th November: New research published today by City & Guilds Group reveals that coaching[1] is integral to productivity and performance, with 84 percent of workers saying that coaching should be part of every business’s management and development programme.
City & Guilds Group surveyed over 1,000 UK professionals on their thoughts and experiences of coaching in the workplace. The research demonstrates the benefits of coaching for companies as they adapt to the future world of work, highlighting the potential risks faced by employers that don’t harness this powerful tool for change.
According to the study, 76 percent of employees believe coaching is helpful when going through periods of organisational change, and 79 percent say it’s useful for adopting new technologies and ways of working. In addition, as businesses begin to see staff from five generations working side-by-side, two thirds (64 percent) of those surveyed say that coaching has already become important in facilitating intergenerational working.
Coaching plays a critical part in boosting productivity as people move between roles or embrace portfolio careers, both growing trends in today’s workplace. Changing role often means facing new challenges, and amongst the respondents that had changed role in their company, over a quarter (27 percent) report taking four months or more to work to the best of their ability afterwards, with 10 percent taking seven months or longer. Demonstrating the impact of coaching on performance, the research found that people who didn’t receive coaching at this critical moment are over eight times more likely to say that they still don’t feel able to work to the best of their ability, compared to those that did receive coaching.
John Yates, Managing Director, City & Guilds Group, commented: “The nature of work is evolving, and organisational change is becoming an increasingly common theme in UK businesses; whether they’re growing, shrinking, or adapting to new technologies. At the same time, we are also witnessing huge changes in the workforce, with intergenerational working and career hopping becoming new norms. With unpredictable times ahead and ongoing change presenting challenges to businesses, employers need to encourage and support staff at all levels of the organisation – to maximise their individual performance, as well as that of the business.”
Gary Shewan, Learning & Development Consultant, Legal and General, said:
“Embedding a culture of coaching is a key component of our Talent Development Programme and continues to have a positive impact on Legal & General. Involving managers at all levels to support the programme has meant that learning and development is very much in line with business needs, resulting in a step change in how learning and development is perceived across the organisation with staff recognising the need for continual learning – which is so important if individuals, teams and the company as a whole is to keep up with the pace of change. Not only has retention improved, but employee engagement continues to improve, and we can also see a measurable improvement to performance as delegates are able to implement projects worked on during the programme to deliver customer benefits and business efficiencies.”
The research also reveals that companies that don’t provide coaching opportunities risk leaving employees feeling undervalued. Of those respondents that haven’t been offered coaching by their current employer, lack of investment (33 percent), taking staff for granted (31 percent), leaders’ disinterest in staff (22 percent) and a lack of understanding on the value of coaching (22 percent) are listed as the most common reasons.
Demonstrating the capacity of coaching to benefit businesses more widely, respondents who have received coaching cite improved confidence, performance and productivity as three of the most important positive changes witnessed for themselves, others and their wider team and organisation.
John Yates continued: “Coaching is an easily accessible tool that empowers employers to undertake successful organisational and technological transformation, while boosting workforce engagement, performance and productivity. Our research demonstrates that people place real value in coaching, a fact that employers cannot afford to overlook. Being so easy to implement, and yet affecting employees and the wider organisation so positively, coaching is a missed trick for employers that fail to get on board.”
[1] For the purposes of this research, ‘coaching’ is defined as the process of training or guiding an individual to address current, rather than long-term, issues in the workplace.
