Star comment: Government needs to be more ambitious in its approach to home-building
Rishi Sunak is very much appealing to his core vote by pledging he will not ‘carpet over the countryside’ in his party’s quest to deliver on its manifesto commitment to building 300,000 new homes every year by the mid-2020s.
The Prime Minister has said: “Our plan is to build the right homes where there is the most need and where there is local support, in the heart of Britain’s great cities.”
That reassurance will be welcomed by rural parts of our region, which have become prime spots for developers.
The housing crisis is a major issue for the country and balancing the need to build new homes against the need to protect and preserve our wonderful countryside remains a huge challenge for politicians.
We live in a region with here there remains huge swathes of brownfield development land. Developing that land can help meet the new homes target – and also breathe new life into these areas. That is where the Government needs to be more ambitious in its approach, before it seeks to grow our villages and rural towns.
People have been talking about the housing crisis for too long and the problems have increased, not reduced. The number of people unable to get onto the property ladder is higher now than before while for some there is little chance of achieving home ownership.
We must accept that not everyone will like all of the answers all of the time if we are to make progress and help those in need of a home.
Most of all, we must be resourceful in utilising brownfield sites so that we create developments in areas where they are least likely to cause disruption.