As an Associate Supporter of the R&B Housebuilders Forum, STARK UK continues to champion the action needed to increase housing delivery across the UK. This was brought into focus when Group CEO John Carter appeared on Sky News to discuss the urgent government action needed to help Britain build more homes.
During the interview, John welcomed the Government's renewed commitment to housebuilding, alongside Andy Burnham’s emphases on devolution and local empowerment within the planning system.
John acknowledged the progress already made through recent policy reforms but emphasised that significant challenges remain. SME housebuilders continue to face major barriers to growth, including lengthy planning processes, rising costs and slow decision-making. With construction businesses continuing to contend with skills shortages and economic uncertainty, he stressed that housing targets must be matched by practical measures that enable the sector to deliver at scale.
John’s comments closely reflect the aims of the Let’s Get Britain Building Now! campaign, also supported by the R&B Housebuilders Forum, which is calling on the Government to restore certainty and confidence across the construction and housebuilding sectors. By bringing together businesses and organisations from the across the sector, the campaign is urging policymakers to remove barriers to development, support home ownership and create the conditions needed to accelerate housing delivery and unlock future growth.
Many of the statistics highlighted within the campaign emphasize the scale of the challenge facing the sector and make for sober reading. A quarter of tradespeople in the UK are set to leave the industry in the next five years, housebuilders who are buckling under viability pressures are closing their businesses, with construction companies accounting for between 15-20% of all company insolvencies.
Yet these figures are precisely why the campaign matters, and why the response so far has been encouraging. Many thanks to everyone who has signed the petition so far. It is now hosted on Parliament's petitions website, and with your continued support we can push it towards the 100,000 signatures needed for it to be considered for a debate in the House of Commons.
