Property News · January 5, 2016

Housing masterplan needs a rethink | Letters from Shaun Spiers, CPRE, and others


The government’s commitment, in the prime minister’s words, to “roll its sleeves up and directly get homes built” is very welcome (New housing plans signal policy shift by ministers, 4 January). For far too long responsibility for meeting the nation’s housing need has been outsourced to a few big firms who have demanded ever more greenfield sites and then failed to build enough new homes. Planning permissions are up, the big developers’ land banks and profits are huge, but housing starts have stalled.At last the penny seems to have dropped that a serious public-private partnership is needed if we are to tackle the housing crisis. This will require more planning, not less. If we are to build homes people will want to live in for years to come, there must be as great a commitment to high-quality design and place-making as to numbers. And to ensure public consent for a mass programme of housing building, the vast majority of new homes should be built on sustainable brownfield sites. Continue reading…

Source : theguardian.com
Read more…Housing masterplan needs a rethink | Letters from Shaun Spiers, CPRE, and others

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