Workshop Breakfast
Join TrustedLand for Breakfast as we launch our advocacy group’s Toolkit with
Planning Consultant — David Kemp
Development Finance — Dave Symondson
Land Agency — Gary Higson
Developer — Victoria Tsoy
Developer — Alex Uregian
Political and Communications Consultant — Antony Calvert, CalComms
Head of Advocacy — Stewart Owen
TrustedLand is a network of 7,000 Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) formed to promote property development. TrustedLand connects property developers, investors, professionals, and contractors to facilitate successful land projects through expert advice and a collaborative network.
At this event we invite the network to hear the policy briefing that has been drafted for politicians at all levels, to provide short term, mid-term, and long-term actions for political parties across the UK to discuss and adopt.
Date: Wednesday 27th May 2026 8.30am to 11am
Knowledge
SMEs across the UK face multiple challenges in real estate and construction, including around Brownfield development. Following consultation with TrustedLand’s network of 7,000, we have brought together the top challenges facing SMEs.
1. Systemic Blockers
- Market consolidation: SMEs’ share of housing delivery has fallen from ~40% in the 1980s to ~10% today, driven by finance, risk, and scale advantages. This reduces competition, diversity, and innovation resulting, thwarting sustainable development and resulting in a low growth economy.
- Planning system bias: The planning system disproportionately burdens small sites. Planning Costs for Schemes of 5–9 are 250% higher per plot, (£3,500 per plot vs £1,000 for large sites), take 400% longer (31 days per plot vs 6), and have a 37% less chance of approval (54% vs 86%).
- Land pipeline exclusion: Local plans overwhelmingly prioritise large sites, leaving limited opportunities for SMEs. Public landowners frequently delay or aggregate smaller plots that SMEs are best placed to deliver.
- Finance and risk exposure: Higher borrowing costs, tighter lending criteria, and prolonged planning timelines increase early-stage risk. This deters both SME developers and their funders.
2. Challenges Facing SME Builders
- Chronic planning delay: 98% of small-site applications miss statutory deadlines, imposing holding costs and rising interest burdens that SMEs lack the capital reserves to absorb.
- Disproportionate viability requirements: Small schemes are routinely expected to meet the same affordable housing and Section 106 obligations as large developments, despite higher proportional costs, often rendering projects unviable and prolonging negotiations.
- Accessibility to finance: Limited access to finance remains a major barrier for small and medium-sized housebuilders, especially when Homes England funding is slow to be released, delaying projects and restricting growth.
- Labour and skills constraints: SMEs train a significant share of the workforce but struggle to retain skilled labour against larger firms offering higher wages and longer-term security.
- Restricted access to land: Opaque disposal processes and risk-weighted tenders favour capital-rich bidders over local SMEs.
3. Political, Financial and Bureaucratic Barriers
- NPPF underperformance: Despite national policy requiring 10% of housing supply on small sites, only ~3% of allocations meet this test, with weak enforcement.
- Misaligned public finance: Homes England and British Business Bank products are underused due to scale thresholds and complexity, excluding many viable SME schemes.
- Fragmented leadership: London’s Small Sites for Small Builders programme demonstrates what is possible; equivalent national action is absent.
- Policy–delivery gap: Although SMEs are increasingly referenced in policy, few measures materially tackle the planning, finance, and land barriers they face.
TrustedLand’s suggested Key Intervention Areas
Engagement with TrustedLand’s 7,000‑strong SME network identifies four priority interventions that would unlock rapid, low‑risk increases in housing delivery if addressed together:
1. Land Access Reform
Unlock SME-led delivery by improving access to small, deliverable plots.
- Create dedicated small-site registers and public land pipelines prioritised for SMEs
- Standardise national and local processes to dispose of sites under one hectare
2. Proportional Planning Reform
Remove structural bias against small sites by ensuring planning costs, obligations, and evidence requirements scale with scheme size.
- Streamline applications and reduce reporting and viability burdens
- Calibrate affordable housing and Section 106 obligations proportionately
3. Targeted SME Finance
Reduce early-stage risk and cost of capital, where SME schemes are most vulnerable.
- Establish an SME-specific development finance fund with flexible terms
- Pilot government-backed guarantees or insurance for planning-stage risk
4. Skills and Capacity Building
Strengthen the SME delivery pipeline by supporting the firms that train the workforce.
- Subsidise apprenticeship and training costs for SMEs
- Support upskilling in modern methods of construction
Why This Matters
Politics and property development have always been intertwined — but in the current climate, understanding the political forces at play has never been more important.
From housing targets and planning reform to local authority budgets and infrastructure investment, the decisions made in Westminster and in council chambers directly affect what gets built, where, and when.
This is a conversation every developer, agent, and professional in our network should be part of.
About TrustedLand Breakfasts
Our breakfast events bring together SME developers, contractors, financiers, and professionals from across London and the Home Counties for open, honest conversation and genuine knowledge sharing.
Spaces are limited — register your interest to secure your place.
TrustedLand — bringing together the people who make property development happen.
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2026 Calendar
- January – save 11% on Development Costs – Metadology
- February – Viability – Dr Andrew Golland
- April – Politics in Property Development – Antony Calvert – Calcomms
- May - Advocacy Toolkit
Broadcasts
