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In the heart of rural England, Oxfordshire faces a now-familiar paradox: a beautiful, prosperous county, where housing has become increasingly unaffordable – especially for those with deep local roots. Policymakers are under pressure to build, but top-down schemes often meet resistance from residents who feel excluded from decisions, and alienated by developments that feel imposed rather than integrated.
So, what if there were a better way? What if we could build homes people actually want, in places they want to live, with support from the very communities they’re meant to serve?
The answer may lie in the growing movement of self-build and custom housebuilding.
Self-build doesn’t necessarily mean DIY – rather, it allows people to commission or design their own home to suit their needs. In practice, most self-builders employ professionals to handle construction, but retain control over the layout, size, style, and materials.
Custom build is similar, but typically involves a developer preparing a serviced plot or shell home, giving buyers a level of personalisation without needing to manage the full process.
Under the Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015, both approaches are defined as housing built by individuals (or associations of individuals) for their own use. The Act also places a duty on all local planning authorities to maintain a register of people and groups interested in self- or custom-build homes in their area. And that list is significant.
Here’s what’s crucial: councils are not just encouraged to support self-build – they are legally required to.
The Housing and Planning Act 2016 amended the 2015 Act to introduce a statutory duty for all local authorities in England. They must grant sufficient ‘development permissions’ to meet the demand recorded on their self-build and custom build registers – specifically for people on Part 1 of the register, who meet local connection and eligibility criteria.
This duty applies on a rolling three-year basis, creating a clear expectation that planning authorities will take action, not just hold lists.
This transforms self-build from a niche interest into a statutory housing delivery requirement, and it creates a powerful basis for well-planned, small-scale development proposals that meet local demand.
Each of Oxfordshire’s district councils maintains a self-build and custom housebuilding register. But supply remains low. Many of the people on these registers – with a legal right to have their demand acknowledged – are still waiting, often for years, for suitable plots to become available. This disconnect creates a clear opportunity.
If you can evidence local demand, and present a scheme that reflects the needs and aspirations of the community, you stand a strong chance of gaining support – not just from planners, but from parish councils, landowners, and local people alike.
And because of the 2016 legal duty, councils are under increasing pressure to support this kind of development. Proposals that clearly deliver self-build or custom build homes – particularly for people with a local connection – now carry additional weight in planning decisions.
Could this be the future? A model that’s community-led, ethically driven, and commercially viable.
By identifying areas of unmet self-build demand – alongside clear need for affordable housing – we can approach landowners and parish councils with something more meaningful than a speculative planning bid. We can bring forward viable schemes that deliver local value.
This might include:
The beauty of this approach is that it’s not adversarial. It brings landowners, local councils, and residents into the process, rather than pushing development onto them.
While often seen as a private venture (think Grand Designs), self-build and custom housebuilding can also be a powerful tool to deliver affordable housing, in both senses of the word.
In planning terms, affordable housing refers to homes that meet the needs of those who cannot afford to buy or rent on the open market. This includes social rent, affordable rent, shared ownership, First Homes, and supported housing. District councils across Oxfordshire face growing pressure to meet these needs – and self-build can help.
By working with Housing Associations, Community Land Trusts, and Registered Providers, it’s possible to deliver custom build schemes that remain permanently affordable. These might include:
Even where homes aren’t formally classified as affordable under planning policy, custom and self-build allows people to reduce costs by managing the build process, using local labour, or building incrementally – making homeownership achievable for groups otherwise priced out of the local market.
With the right partnerships, self-build and custom build could become a cornerstone of Oxfordshire’s approach to truly inclusive, community-supported housing.
This isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s also the smart thing to do.
With careful site selection, phased delivery, and alignment with Local Plans and neighbourhood priorities, small-scale self-build and custom build schemes can deliver strong financial returns while addressing the root problems of our broken housing system.
And in Oxfordshire – where planning tensions are high, and demand for homes is even higher – it might just be the model the county needs.
If you’re a landowner, a local councillor, or someone stuck on the self-build register with nowhere to build – we’d love to talk.
At Golden Fleece Property, we’re building partnerships that unlock land, empower communities, and help ordinary people create the homes they want – not just the ones developers decide they can have.
Because the future of housing in Oxfordshire shouldn’t be imposed from above. It should be shaped by the people who live here.
Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/28/contents/enacted
Housing and Planning Act 2016 – Section 10, Duty to Grant Permission
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2016/22/contents/enacted
National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) – para 63 and para 73
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-planning-policy-framework–2
Planning Practice Guidance: Self-build and Custom Housebuilding
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/self-build-and-custom-housebuilding
Right to Build Task Force – Planning Guidance PG3.1 (April 2025)
https://righttobuild.org.uk/resources/planning_good_practice_guidance
NaCSBA – National Custom and Self Build Association
https://nacsba.org.uk
Help to Build: Government Loan Scheme for Custom/Self Builders
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/help-to-build-equity-loan-scheme
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