Pressure to up-size rabbit hutches to allow for breeding

Expect a quietly desperate lobbying operation to be mounted by house builders following yesterday's proposals for minimum space standards issued by the Homes & Communities Agency. The supplier of subsidised housing has worked up a whole new framework of quality standards due to be introduced in April 2011 for homes built using government grants. The key HCA conclusion is that one bed flats must a minimum of 48 M2 and two-bedders, 61M2.

The fact is that the HCA has been pushing these "Parker Morris plus 10%" for some time now. What they are clearly after is to now have these minimum sizes, based on those laid down for council houses by Sir Parker Morris in the 1960's, enshrined in a new set of standards that will set the benchmark for social housing for years to come. 

House builders fear councils will start demanding the same space standards for private homes as the price of planning permission. Given that private flats can be 30-50% smaller than the HCA proposals, they have every right to be scared; especially as a change of government might increase rather than decrease the pressure. London's Conservative Mayor, Boris Johnson, regularly rails against "rabbit hutch" homes and has made no secret of wanting to extend the HCA standards to private sector.

Lower density simply means lower land prices. But you can tell that to house builders until you are blue in the face. This week one leading developer tried very hard to convince that the 28M2 flats they are building are just what young folk need - as they are bigger than the 20M2 they were used to living in at college. What if one young folk meets another and wants to co-habit? What if two young folk breed a third? These rabbit hutches only hold one rabbit.