More than a year into the new Labour government, there are signs that confidence is returning to the housing sector. A pro-growth agenda, clearer targets and leadership and a revised NPPF are all helping to re-energise a market long plagued by uncertainty. Beneath the surface positivity, however, the fundamentals remain unchanged.

The planning system is still too slow, too unpredictable and too poorly resourced to support the scale of housing delivery identified by our new administration. 

Nowhere is this more visible, or more damaging, than in the case of small and medium-sized (SME) sites. These are the very ones most impacted by the failing system.