Seddon was pleased to take part in the first Northern Leaders Forum session last week, with Richard Sterling, Development & Decarbonisation Director at Seddon Housing Partnerships, joining senior leaders to discuss the practical changes needed to unlock more homes across the North.

Held at Yorkshire Housing’s Leeds offices, the session built on discussions from the 2026 Housing Development Summit at UKREiiF in May, bringing together representatives from local government, housing associations, combined authorities, developers and Homes England.

The HDS Northern Forum which is led by Cast Group and Yorkshire Housing aims to develop practical recommendations to support housing delivery across the north, with a focus on the partnerships, funding and system changes needed to get schemes moving.

A clear theme was that the appetite to deliver is there. The challenge is creating the conditions that allow partners to move at pace, with greater certainty around planning, funding and infrastructure.

Participants noted that many of the challenges identified in May remain, including funding, viability, infrastructure and planning, but that the tension around these issues has increased. While policy has changed, processes have not always kept pace, with planning approvals slowing significantly.

Participants explored the connected pressures shaping housing delivery, from planning delays and viability to funding, infrastructure, skills and the capacity of local and regional partners.

There was concern that the sector is becoming increasingly reliant on heavily subsidised development, rather than the systemic changes needed to deliver the scale of housing required. There was also concern that questioning the achievability of the 1.5 million homes target could undermine investor confidence.

Planning issues were a particular focus, with discussion around the time it takes for schemes to move through the system. The challenge now is ensuring planning reform translates into faster decisions on the ground.

Participants called for a more common-sense approach, including greater certainty around Section 106 and consideration of whether applications that have successfully passed through the necessary stages should always need to go to committee.

Viability remains equally significant. Rising build costs, alongside requirements around biodiversity net gain, the Future Homes Standard and building safety, are putting further pressure on already marginal schemes.

The discussion also considered the significant opportunities presented by devolution. Greater regional control over funding and investment could help the North shape priorities around local needs, but participants stressed that combined authorities would need the capacity, resources and freedom to make devolution work in practice.

Clear funding channels, decision-making processes and partnership structures will be important if devolution is to deliver its potential. Participants also questioned whether combined authorities currently have the capacity to deliver all the responsibilities being devolved to them, highlighting the need for local areas to be able to set their own agendas.

Infrastructure was another important part of the conversation. Better transport connectivity can help unlock housing sites, support economic growth and improve access to employment. Housing, transport, infrastructure and regeneration should therefore be seen as part of the same picture rather than separate programmes.

Partnership was central to the discussion, and the group identified a need to ensure partnerships have a clear delivery focus, they aren’t just discussion forums.

Participants highlighted the importance of bringing together combined authorities, local authorities, housing providers, developers, investors and other partners earlier, with clearer roles, shared outcomes and greater use of existing skills.

There was also a focus on making better use of existing capacity and resources, integrating communities into projects earlier and creating partnership structures that can withstand short-term political cycles.

A need for more long-term and flexible funding was also raised by the group, allowing public investment to leverage private capital and support projects over a number of years rather than through fragmented programmes. The group discussed the potential for a regional investment/development finance model to bring different funding sources together.

Bridging the funding gap was also identified as crucial, with participants considering development finance mechanisms, greater willingness to share risk and faster access to sites as potential ways to unlock schemes.

Skills were another key concern, particularly the shortage of planners, construction workers and other built environment professionals. A longer-term development pipeline could give the sector greater confidence to invest in apprenticeships, training and the workforce needed to deliver future housing.

It was agreed that skills planning cannot be done in isolation, but must be connected to the wider housing, infrastructure and regeneration pipeline.

The group also explored whether greater standardisation, joint procurement and more consistent approaches to construction and regulation could help reduce costs and complexity.

Standardisation, Modern Methods of Construction and joint procurement were discussed as potential ways to reduce costs, while greater consistency in local standards and regulation could make delivery easier across different areas.

Regeneration was also considered as a significant opportunity for the North, with political certainty, civic vision and stronger public-private partnerships identified as important to unlocking currently unviable schemes. Case studies demonstrating successful partnerships could help build investor confidence, while fairer access to Homes England funding, including low-cost finance, could improve viability.

Looking ahead to the Forum’s next session in February 2027, participants wanted to see faster planning decisions, easier access to funding and a clearer long-term delivery plan. Greater policy stability, investment in infrastructure and skills, and stronger partnerships were also priorities.

The discussion reinforced that these barriers need to be addressed together. The Forum’s aim now is to turn shared priorities into practical recommendations that help partners get more homes built across the North.