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Homes England ‘has contingency plans’ for no-deal Brexit
Homes England has begun drawing up contingency plans if the UK leaves the EU without a deal in March, the agency’s chief executive has revealed.
Speaking yesterday at Savills annual housing seminar, Nick Walkley, chief executive of Homes England, said the agency was already looking at scenarios for a no-deal Brexit.
When asked what preparations Homes England was making for a no deal, Mr Walkley said:
“There is a pretty thorough piece of work going on across the agency and department to look at issues around supply, labour supply, materials, and we have a contingency plan for those.”
Over the weekend, the EU agreed a deal with prime minister Theresa May on the heads of terms for the UK’s exit. The proposals will be put in front of UK and European parliaments to vote on ahead of the UK’s exit from the EU on 29 March.
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MPs are expected to vote on the deal on the 11 December but there is currently strong opposition to the deal, with the Democratic Unionist Party and the majority of Labour MPs vowing to reject the deal. A number of Conservatives are also against Ms May’s plan.
Listen to a podcast on the potential impact of no deal on the housing sector:
Mr Walkley said he believed in the months after Brexit it was Homes England’s job to provide additional support to housing associations to ensure they continue to build.
He said: “My sense is the important thing the agency can do is to continue to supply funding, expertise and capacity into sites, so that those first nervous few months doesn’t see a retreat from the increasing numbers we are delivering at the moment.”
Last month chancellor Philip Hammond announced the second round of strategic partnerships, with seven housing associations securing £653m in grant to build an additional 13,475 homes over the next four years.
The funding deal will last for four years on the premise that partners will begin the construction of those homes before March 2022 and complete them by March 2024.
When asked whether Homes England was looking at bringing in longer-term funding agreements for their strategic partners, Mr Walkley confirmed that the agency was in discussions with government over this.
He said: “We are in the midst of negotiations in preparation of a spending review for longer-term funding arrangements.
“The fact that PM announced 10-year funding gives an indication of the direction of travel clearly making commitment beyond the single spending review represents a really significant change.
“Simply getting £2bn that stretches over more than one spending review is an enormous chink of light.”
Homes England opened the bidding for the next wave of strategic partners in September, with the agency currently in discussions with bidders now.
Mr Walkley said Homes England was “very close” to announcing the next cohort of partners and expected the new deals to be revealed “shortly before or very soon after the New Year”.
