Forum Brief: Housing plan

A massive house-building programme has been unveiled by the government.

Deputy prime minister John Prescott told MPs that there was a need for a "step change in the housing supply".

"This is an enormous challenge for all of us. It's about people and places and where they live. It's about sustainable communities," he told MPs.

Forum Response: Shelter

Alastair Jackson, director of policy at Shelter, said: "The sustainable communities plan is a good start and it is very welcome to see that the government has at last acknowledged the seriousness of England's housing crisis and the need for a comprehensive strategy to tackle it.

"But the scale of the mountain they have to climb still towers above them and we must ensure that the homes that are desperately needed are delivered.

"There are those that oppose new housing development at any cost - for too long this nimbyist agenda has held sway. It is now time to end the misery that sees thousands of people's lives blighted by homelessness and the awful conditions they are forced to live in.

"This will be the measure of whether the sustainable communities plan delivers on the ground."

Forum Response: English Partnerships

Margaret Ford, chairman of English Partnerships, said: "The deputy prime minister has outlined a practical vision of how we can create communities where we will all want to live and work. Our role at English Partnerships is to deliver that vision by utilising brownfield and previously-developed land wherever possible.

"We enthusiastically endorse the government's commitment to sustainability and we look forward to expanding our partnership with the Housing Corporation to create quality homes across the country. This vision is deliverable and we are more than ready to do it."

Forum Response: Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment

Sir Stuart Lipton, chairman of CABE, said: "We warmly welcome the deputy prime minister's commitment to tackle the housing crisis and the quality of public space in this country.

"We are incredibly enthusiastic about our new responsibility to act as the nation's champion for improving and promoting quality urban spaces as we see raising the standard of public space to be absolutely fundamental if we are to create neighbourhoods that are safe, lively and fun to be in.

"There is a great tradition of parks and public spaces in England and this new investment is going to allow for new spaces as well as the revival of neglected areas.

"We welcome the expansion of our resources that will enable us to work with ODPM to ensure that the quality of the built environment is a core objective in the delivery of this investment plan."

Forum Response: Woodland Trust

Ed Pomfret, spokesman for the Woodland Trust, told ePolitix.com: "John Prescott is giving with one hand and taking away with the other. The increased funding for green spaces in towns and cities is welcome. There is a pressing need to invest in these spaces to ensure that people are able to live in surroundings that are healthy, pleasant and green, but this does not hide the fact that his plans for new houses could wreak havoc on ancient woodland in the South East and East of England.

"There are significant concentrations of ancient woodland surrounding Ashford, and the M11 corridor. This irreplaceable habitat must be protected from development. We support the designation of more greenbelt land as long as this is land that provides valuable wildlife habitats accessible for people to enjoy and is not just an arable desert. But under no circumstances should this come at the expense of our equivalent of the rainforest.

"The Trust welcomes the creation of a 'community enabler' scheme, which will encourage local community involvement in public spaces. We also support the setting up of a new green spaces unit under the auspices of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. New funding for the environmental charity Groundwork's vital work is also a positive step."

Forum Response: Council of Mortgage Lenders

Peter Williams, deputy director general of the Council of Mortgage Lenders, said: "The statement is a welcome attempt to address some of the imbalances in housing supply and demand. The extra funding in areas of low demand will help revitalise them and is particularly welcome. Rather than leaving individual owner-occupiers to bear the burden of decline - over which they have no control - the Government is moving towards sympathetically and systematically addressing these complex problems.

"In areas of high demand, the extra funding will help more 'key' workers into home-ownership. But the government's support for measures like shared ownership will provide greater help for all lower-paid people who want to buy a home, whether or not they qualify for 'key worker' status. The lending industry looks forward to contributing to the work on the newly-announced home-ownership task force."

Forum Response: Local Government Association

Sir Jeremy Beecham, chair of the Local Government Association, said: "The plan provides a national framework to address real problems of housing hotspots and regional decline and the quality of life. The LGA has worked with the government to set an agenda to address theses issues, and the plan is useful in pulling a lot of this work together with money to match.

"It is the role of government to provide a national lead and address imbalances across the country. But the implementation of change must now be driven democratically from those closest to the problems. For many areas of England the directly elected county council helps reflect the community's wishes as well as delivering vital services. County councils' planning powers must not be extinguished - certainly not before there are popular directly elected regional alternatives.

"The plan should not be seen as an edict - there is rightly going to be a lot of heated debate in the affected areas if developments are going to be locally appropriate and supported.

"It is vital that the best democratic forums for these debates, directly elected councils, have a lead role so that the outcome has popular support, otherwise growth will stall rather than flourish. All that is good in today's communities plan will be lost where popular support is lost.""New homes house people who need schools, hospitals, social services, parks, jobs - and transport to get there. Remember that and you understand why it is that councils must be central to the whole process."

Forum Response: Countryside Alliance

Richard Burge, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, told ePolitix.com: "The Alliance acknowledges that there is a need for housing in this area, but feel government should adopt policies which encourage more development in disadvantaged parts of the country, rather than the over-crowded and affluent south east where the majority of new housing is likely to go.

"We are also concerned over the impact that this will have on greenfield sites, local authorities should encourage the use of brownfield development in town/city centres/urban fringes to aid regeneration of these areas, these would be in line with the existing natural communities rather than creating new communities, which would be dormitory.

"We would like to see more being done to encourage building on brownfield sites in line with the government target of 60 per cent brownfield for new development (however this is not due to come in until 2008 - should be introduced earlier).

"We would like to see VAT on brownfield sites abolished immediately, but introduced for greenfield development. This will be an important incentive for developers to develop brownfield sites for new housing stock. An exception to this should be made available for developers building affordable housing where this maybe on greenfield sites."

Forum Response: British Property Federation

A spokesman for the BPF told ePolitix.com: "The deputy prime minister's speech today hits most of the right notes. The property industry shares the government's desire to create sustainable communities, which not only provide housing, but the whole range of other services that make an area attractive for people to live, shop and play in.

"Working in partnership, we would like the commercial property sector to play its part in shaping the four areas earmarked for large-scale development. We have already established a dialogue with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and our sector remains ready and willing to be formally represented on the new structures being created, such as the proposed UDCs.

"First and foremost, however, truly sustainable communities need access to jobs and we are concerned that transport remains the missing ingredient in the plan. If the private sector is to have total confidence in the plan we would therefore like to see the government set out as soon as possible how it is going to deliver the required transport infrastructure.

"We welcome the additional funding being earmarked for improving the performance of planning authorities. The first objective should be to get all authorities doing their jobs effectively and we hope the additional funds being made available will be distributed on the basis of need, against tight performance criteria, rather than rewarding the best performers.

"The deputy prime minister has made some constructive proposals for improving the private rented sector in his announcement today. We would now like to see these built upon, so that the government has a cross-departmental strategy for encouraging investment in the sector and an overall vision for it as an attractive housing choice.

"The lack of affordable housing only has one solution to it, which is to increase supply of all forms of housing on a massive scale. The government needs to be alive to the fact that high expectations on developers to provide affordable homes will, at best, result in higher priced homes and, in turn, further need for affordable homes. At worst, it will shift a greater proportion of investment to other forms of commercial property or investment asset class.

"The allocations announced today are not going to meet all housing needs and we believe that institutional investment can provide a significant additional source of funding, particularly for key worker rented housing. To encourage institutional investment, however, will require central government to improve some of its rules on funding and tax relief, and a greater degree of flexibility on the part of local authorities, for example, to consider time limited use-classes.

"We share the government's desire to have a well-managed private rented sector providing quality housing that is safe to live in. We are concerned, however, that not all of the proposals in the draft Housing Bill are sufficiently targeted at stopping bad landlords, or indeed proportionate enough, so that they do not burden good ones.

"To build landlords' support for its objectives it is important that the government offers carrots as well as sticks, and its support for accreditation is welcome in that respect. We would like to see even more emphasis on other incentives that could help raise standards, such as tax relief and training.

"Perhaps the most important aspect of the government's legislative proposals will be how it defines an HMO. A definition that is cast too widely could have the perverse effect of persuading some good landlords to exit the market for some types of flats. Given the importance of the issue we would prefer to see the definition of an HMO on the face of the Housing Bill, rather than, as we believe it will be introduced through secondary legislation."

Forum Response: Centrepoint

Rebecca Pritchard, director of services at Centrepoint, said: "Centrepoint welcome the government's commitment to expanding the supply of affordable housing as outlined in the communities plan. However, a greater emphasis needs to be placed on providing good quality social housing for single young people in central London.

In order to achieve this, Centrepoint encourage the government to tighten up planning laws to push developers to build more good quality social housing and encourage private landlords to take on tenants claiming benefits or on a low income.

"Local authorities have been under pressure to avoid placing families into bed and breakfast accommodation and, as a result, there has been a growing trend towards developing larger family units to meet this need. This leaves even less accommodation for single, homeless young people who may be vulnerable and need a stable, secure base in order to have any chance of a decent future.

"There are Centrepoint residents ready to move out of hostels but can't because appropriate accommodation does not exist. More social housing needs to be made available in order to relieve the pressure on valuable bed spaces."

Forum Response: Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

A spokesman for RICS told ePolitix.com: "We are encouraged by many of the proposals outlined in the Community Plan. The government appears to recognising the extent of the current housing crisis and laying the foundations for genuinely sustainable communities.

"However it is imperative that new housing development be accompanied by adequate investment in social infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and transport.

"We are particularly encouraged by proposals for development in the Thames Gateway and a seed corn investment package of £446 million.

"This is an essential requirement if brownfield development is to be made financially viable for developers who might otherwise turn towards greenfield sites. We are also pleased to see the establishment of new local development agencies in east London and Thurrock which will undoubtedly increase the pace of development."

Forum Response: British Retail Consortium

Bill Moyes, director general of the British Retail Consortium, said: "The Communities Plan takes a strategic view of regeneration issues collectively rather than as individual schemes. However, a key element of the strategy is to boost the local economy. It is hard to understand how this will be achieved when there is no reference to or support for direct investment provided by retail outlets.

"Retail needs to be at heart of any community if that community is to be truly sustainable. By failing retail, the Deputy Prime Minister is failing the communities he hopes to create."

Forum Response: Construction Products Association

Jean Emblin, director of external affairs at the CPA, said: "Fewer houses are currently being built per year than at any time since 1945. Whilst we welcome the Government's commitment to increase funding for new affordable housing and its efforts to put in place new legislation to help this, there is a long way to go.

"The current provision of affordable housing is woefully inadequate, particularly in the south east where the highest degree of housing demand remains, and we welcome, amongst the various initiatives, the identification of four priority growth areas and the planned action on empty properties. However, government must ensure that its short-term targets are delivered on time and that obstacles, such as planning and the large scale voluntary transfers, do not hold back government's delivery of these commitments.

"As outlined in the Association's Achievable Targets? Is Government Delivering? Report, we estimate that affordable housing provision must more than double to meet the rising need by 2005/6 and the government must now set new, long-term targets to ensure that there is truly a decent home for all in the years ahead."

Forum Response: Country Land and Business Association

Mark Jones, senior planning adviser at the CLA, said: "The provision of affordable housing is essential to the maintenance of sustainable rural communities. Without it, young people often have no alternative but to move away, draining the life-blood out of the countryside.

"We can see a hole developing in the funding of this ambitious building programme. The Housing Corporation's Rural Programme budget should be increased to ensure that rural areas are not short-changed.

"We are also concerned that funding will be concentrated on the four identified growth areas - Ashford, Milton Keynes, the Thames Gateway and the M11 corridor. While it is widely acknowledged that there is a particular need for additional housing in the South East, rural housing problems exist all over the country and this should be properly addressed."