Absolutely. I am always happy to continue any discussion with my hon. Friend, and that certainly applies to discussions about how we can ensure that our planning system is fit not just for today but for tomorrow. My hon. Friend’s intervention gives me another chance to make the point that local authorities who are making plans for housing provision in accordance with the NPPF should concentrate on what housing is appropriate for and required by their areas, and that custom building should form part of that.
Developers have already been selected for six of the 12 Government sites. They include the award-winning Trevenson Park site in Cornwall, which Igloo Regeneration is currently developing. The Park Prewett site in Basingstoke is the largest of the custom building sites in the programme, and will generate 1,250 new and affordable homes. We can see the potential for more custom building in sites such as Ebbsfleet and Bicester. Yesterday I visited Brighton and met representatives of KSD Housing, which has a fantastic “modular build” proposal that could work well in the custom building sector as well. It could provide a very good model for the delivery of, in particular, affordable housing in the future.
I mentioned my visit to the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for South Norfolk to see the housing built by Beattie Passive. That company has also built homes in my own constituency—council homes. It is great to see, under this Government, the first council homes to be built in Great Yarmouth for a very long time. Beattie Passive is able to work with the custom and self-building industry not just to deliver homes, but to teach people how to build their own homes. It enables them to develop new skills as well as new houses. That is important because, although we all enjoy watching great programmes such as “Grand Designs”, many people do not realise that custom building and self-building can be affordable. It is not necessary to have a lot of money in order to build a home; indeed, it is possible to buy a home-building kit for £7,500. The Bill does a great deal to make people more aware of the options that are available.
We are working to improve access to finance for all who are involved in custom and self-build. Following on from previous funds, earlier this year we launched a £150 million five-year serviced plot investment fund to finance up to 10,000 plots. We are also exploring with lenders how we can increase the number of custom and self-build mortgages. More lenders are already offering self-build loans, and gross lending on self-build is predicted to increase this year to £1.9 billion annually. It is clear from our discussions with lenders that the more that this sector develops, the easier it will be for them to assess it and ensure that mortgage funds are available. They are very interested in the sector.