Commenting on Housing Minister Yvette Cooper’s calls for more family-size homes to be provided, Executive Chairman of the Home Builders Federation Stewart Baseley says:
“The Home Builders Federation welcomes Yvette Cooper’s emphasis on the need for more family-size homes. The current shortage of family homes is a direct result of a lack of land being brought forward for development. Between 1997 and 2003, the total amount of land developed annually in England actually fell by 10 per cent.”
“While recent increases in the number of apartments being built may show a better level of supply for this part of the market, many thousands of families are being denied appropriate housing opportunities and choices because of restrictions on land supply.”
“As the Government consults on a new Planning Policy Statement for Housing, it must seize this opportunity to create a more efficient and effective planning system to allow the industry the build the homes – across the market - that people both want and need.”
Notes for Editors
The Home Builders Federation (HBF) is the principal trade federation for private sector home builders and voice of the home building industry in England and Wales. The HBF’s 300 member firms account for over 80% of all new homes built in England and Wales in any one year, and includes companies of all sizes, ranging from multi-national, household names through regionally based businesses to small local companies. www.hbf.co.uk
Housing Minister Yvette Cooper is speaking today at the Regeneration & Renewal Annual Northern Regeneration Conference in Rotherham.
Research published by Professor David King in Room to Move? Household Formation, Tenure and Housing Consumption, March 2005, shows that Government policy orientated towards building smaller properties for smaller households fails to understand the aspirations and needs of British people. Dwellings with more than seven rooms are popular and widely consumed by single or two-person households.
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