The government will directly commission the building of 13,000 homes in 2016 in what it described as a “radical new policy shift”.
The government will directly commission the building of 13,000 homes in 2016 in what it described as a “radical new policy shift”.
It will use smaller building firms on sites with planning permissions already in place on four sites outside London, 40% of which will be supposedly affordable 'starter homes' for first-time buyers.
At the same time Prime Minister David Cameron pledged an extra £1.2bn to build 30,000 so-called ‘starter homes’ on underused brownfield land in the next five years.
This will stand on top of £2.3bn already announced in the Autumn Statement to supposedly “fast track” the housebuilding process as the Conservative Party looks to meet its target of building 200,000 starter homes by the end of the decade.
Cameron said: “Today’s package signals a huge shift in government policy. Nothing like this has been done on this scale in 3 decades – government rolling its sleeves up and directly getting homes built.
“Backed up with a further £1.2bn to get homes built on brownfield sites, it shows we will do everything we can to get Britain building and let more people have the security that comes with a home of their own.”
In response Labour’s shadow housing minister John Healey accused the government of pulling the wool over the public’s eyes.
He said: “David Cameron is laying on the rhetoric to hide his failure on new homes. Today's statement promises no new starter homes beyond those already announced.
“With home-ownership down to the lowest level in a generation and fewer homes built over the last five years than under any peacetime government since the 1920s, David Cameron needs to do much more to fix his five years of failure on housing."
