11th Nov 2013 13:11
LONDON (Alliance News) - Property investment and construction company Henry Boot PLC Monday said the UK government's overhaul of the planning system is starting to have a positive impact on the housing market and said its own trading reflected improvements in the market.
Last month the Coalition government outlined plans to scrap unnecessary red tape which adds to the cost of providing new houses and commercial buildings as part of a broader move to reduce and consolidate planning regulations
Housebuilders and commercial property developers say burdensome regulation slows planning considerably, adding costs and significant delays to developments at a time when the UK has a shortage of new homes. The housebuilders have been criticised for sitting on large land banks and not pressing on with developments, but they blame current planning regulations for some of the delay.
In a trading statement for the period July 1 to November 11 the firm said: ?The streamlining of planning regulations continues to produce a more certain and consistent decision-making process which is a marked improvement on the earlier system."
The company said it acquired seven new sites during the period, pushing its total land holding to over 9,700 acres, while planning permissions or 'minded to grant' approvals were achieved on eight sites for 1,735 plots.
Henry Boot also said it has 32 consented sites available for disposal totalling 8,887 plots.
The company said its construction division was on course to "marginally" exceed targeted revenue for the full financial year, which ends on December 31, while the division?s profit would be as expected.
"Encouragingly, we are starting to see improvements in construction activity and hope that finally, this will lead to some improvement in future pricing levels," the firm said.
The stock was trading at 190.44 pence Monday morning, up 1.44p.
By Anthony Tshibangu; [email protected]; @AnthonyAllNews
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