Responding to yesterday’s announcement by George Osborne MP, the Shadow Chancellor, Stewart Baseley, Executive Chairman of the Home Builders Federation, says:
“The HBF welcomes the acknowledgement by George Osborne of the impact of the housing crisis and the urgent need to build more homes. The announcement that the party will take a fresh look at the planning system and the definition of greenfield land signals an important new approach to housing”
“The current planning system is constraining development, exacerbating Britain’s housing shortage and making homes less affordable. 1.25 million families in Britain, for example, now earn too much to qualify for housing benefit but are too poor to buy even the cheapest properties in the area.
“Meanwhile, restrictions on developing greenfield land is badly distorting the market. The think tank, Policy Exchange, reveals that since there are very few brownfield sites in rural Cumbria, housing in the North West region is mainly being provided in Manchester and other cities in the region, often many miles away from demand.”
“We welcome attempts to address these problems and allow the industry to build the numbers and types of homes that people need. The HBF looks forward to working constructively with the Conservative Party to develop the right policies for the future of the country.”
Notes for Editors
1. 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 include companies of all sizes, ranging from multi-national, household names through regionally based businesses to small local companies: www.hbf.co.uk
2. Figures compiled by The Joseph Rowntree Foundation in October 2005 revealed that there are “more than 1.25 million younger households in England, Scotland and Wales whose incomes would be too high to qualify for Housing Benefit if they were living in ‘social’ rented accommodation, but too low to afford a mortgage on even the cheapest two- or three-bedroom homes for sale in their area”: http://www.jrf.org.uk/pressroom/releases/111005.asp
3. Policy Exchange produced the report, “Unaffordable Housing – Fables and Myths” by Alan W Evans and Oliver Marc Hartwich in June 2005: http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/index.php?id=7