Plans for 70,000 affordable homes
Yvette Cooper announced a huge £8 billion building programme yesterday to help first-time buyers and families on low incomes. An extra 210,000 affordable homes will be built over the next three years.
The commitment includes 45,000 new social homes a year and 25,000 shared ownership, she told the Commons.
But housing bodies and council chiefs complained that the Government had not provided enough money and that they would need at least £11 billion to fund the programme. There were also concerns that the extra £300 million announced by Ms Cooper to kickstart infrastructure was not enough.
Sir Simon Milton, chairman of the Local Government Association, welcomed the new council powers that would help to cut waiting lists. But he added: “To turn rhetoric into reality, the LGA estimates that the Government needs to invest around £11.6 billion in new, affordable housing over the next three years, rather than the £8 billion announced.
Altogether three million homes should be built by 2020, 60 per cent of them on brownfield land. Restrictions on greenbelt land will not be relaxed, although there could be more building on greenfield sites. About 200,000 homes will be built on surplus land owned by the MoD, NHS, councils and other agencies by 2016. But there were no signs that the Government was prepared to subsidise public sector land for housing associations or private developers, as many experts had demanded.
New funding and incentives will be provided for councils to build more houses, while new measures will discourage developers from "landbanking" - seeking planning permission and then sitting on land without building new homes.
Outlining a raft of initiatives, Ms Cooper said local authorities would have more flexibility to build council homes.
They will also have more access to housing grants while new Local Housing Companies will help councils use their land, with partners, for new homes.
Further measures will help bring empty housing back into use.
Ms Cooper said the mistakes of the 1960s - when "quality was sacrificed in the name of speed" - must not be repeated.
New homes would be "built to the highest environmental standards", with an emphasis on family homes, parks and green spaces.
The £8 billion earmarked for the programme is up £3 million from the last spending review.
It will help finance thousands of extra shared ownership homes, Ms Cooper said.
The Government will also offer a new 17.5% equity loan for key workers and priority first time buyers.
Ms Cooper told MPs: "Taken together, these proposals represent not just the most significant programme of house building for decades, but an ambitious, positive response to the growing challenges that many people face in their day-to-day lives."
Mr Shapps welcomed elements of the Green Paper, but demanded: "With the NHS in London already conducting estate audits with a view to closing hospitals and selling off land, do you accept that the public will be worried that more homes will only come at the expense of fewer hospitals?"
Mr Shapps said he was "concerned" the Government's building targets were "unsustainable" and quoted a Government report warning development may affect the character of the countryside in the South East.
The building would also take place in areas of high flood risk, he warned.
"We can expect more flash floods of the type we have experienced in recent days and weeks," he said.
He defended the Conservative Party's record on house building in the 1980s and 1990s and said ministers should be "empowering local communities".
Mr Shapps told the House: "Labour aren't planning the eco-towns of the 21st century, they are planning the sink estates of tomorrow.
"The Conservative Party have been responsible for most of the progressive housing policies of the last 50 years.
"We build more social housing, spread home ownership and created mixed communities.
"To solve the housing crisis it's vital to end the ham-fisted nature of top-down Whitehall-driven targets and instead switch to empowering local communities to build the homes that stand the test of time."
Ms Cooper teased Mr Shapps for "masterminding" the party's by-election campaign in Ealing, where they finished in third place.
She said Mr Shapps had changed his website since taking up his new post, removing the slogan: "We believe you cannot build your way out of a housing crisis."
It now said building more properties is "obviously vital".
She said the Government should be proud of lifting 1.5 million children out of housing poverty by improving the housing stock.
"It's something your party should feel ashamed of because they left over a million children in appalling homes by failing to deliver the new homes and the council house improvements that we needed.
"We have to recognise a national collective responsibility to provide for the homes that the future needs.
"You gave us warm words - you said 'we accept the need for more homes' but will you back 240,000 new zero carbon homes by 2012?
"The challenge now is for the party opposite to back that commitment or otherwise they are letting down first time buyers."
Liberal Democrat housing spokesman Paul Holmes said the Government had "at last recognised the scale of the housing crisis they have presided over".
The housing market was approaching "another wave of negative equity" such as was seen in the 1980s and 90s.
"We have a market that is undersupplied with land and houses and overheated in terms of land and reckless mortgage lenders.
"Mortgage debt is up 150%; people are falling behind with mortgages at a rate that's doubled from last year; repossessions have trebled since last year - and that's just the start."
He criticised the Green Paper for not giving more money to councils to build houses, which would instead go to Housing Associations, and for taking away money from right-to-buy schemes.
He said ministers had a "poverty of ambition" and should set the target for zero-carbon homes to 2011, which had already been achieved by Germany.
The Green Paper would bring "yet more imposition of yet more central control, with the Government dictating what houses will be built where and by which councils.
"Why not simply restore autonomy to local areas?"
Ms Cooper said the targets for eco-friendly homes were "the most ambitious in the world" and said she was "sorry" he wouldn't support the Government's target.
She said the Government wanted "flexibility" in who was building houses.
Tory MP David Curry (Skipton and Ripon) said there was "not a lot" in the paper to make it easier to build houses, and said the Government should rule out its planning gain tax plans.
Ms Cooper appeared to indicate the Government might reconsider its plans for a planning tax, as there were alternatives in the Green Paper.
"We think that the Planning Gain Supplement has the potential to raise the most significant level of resources for infrastructure but also not to deter development.
"However we are prepared to consult on a range of possible alternatives and to discuss possible alternatives and to look at those before we bring in the Planning Gain Supplement Bill."
Liberal Democrat Bob Russell (Colchester) said: "The reason we have a housing crisis is because of the failure of this Government over the last ten years." He asked how many of the new homes would be council houses.
Ms Cooper said: "What we can say is that we believe that by 2010, 70,000 of the homes that are built need to be affordable homes including 45,000 of them social homes.
"The proportion which are council homes will depend on decisions made by councils and by developers and housing associations across the country."
Tory John Greenway (Ryedale) called for improved drainage systems in new developments. Poor drains had been the cause of "so much suffering" during the crisis.
Ms Cooper said: "We have seen some terrible events over the last month as a result of either poor drainage or drainage simply overflowing as a result of the level of rainfall."
More could be done to improve drainage design. The Minister pointed to the example of Milton Keynes as a city with "very good original drainage".
Responding to Labour's Tony Lloyd (Manchester Central), who attacked the practice of "speculative buying", Ms Cooper said: "I have particular concerns about some of the investment which is in fact not buy-to-let but buy-to-leave investment that has been taking place."
Local councils should "think carefully" about using some of their empty homes powers to bring some of the properties back into use, she added.
Tory Mark Prisk (Hertford and Stortford) claimed Ms Cooper had endorsed a housing development that would see the "concreting over" of 1,500 acres of greenbelt land in his constituency.
"Two weeks ago the Prime Minister promised at that despatch box that such land will be robustly protected. Can you confirm that your previous policy has changed and is that land now safe or are we not to trust the new Prime Minister's policies?"
Ms Cooper said she could not comment on individual planning decisions.
But she said: "Our policy on greenbelt remains precisely the same as it has always been. We have made that clear both in the planning white paper but also in this House as part of this Green Paper as well."
The DUP's Sammy Wilson (E Antrim) said there were "a number of contradictions" in the Green Paper. He suggested it would be "very difficult" to deliver more affordable homes.
Ms Cooper said: "The £3 billion is extra public sector funding for affordable housing. In addition to that we will get additional efficiencies from housing associations on top of that and that is what allows us to reach the 70,000 figure that we have set out."
Labour's Andrew Slaughter (Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush) welcomed the announcement but attacked Tory councils who he said were cutting the numbers of affordable housing.
Ms Cooper said: "I think it is a disappointment where councils are opposing additional affordable homes."
Shelter chief executive Adam Sampson said: “The announcement is a significant step forward in tackling the immediate housing crisis which is engulfing Britain, and will contribute to achieving the Government’s target to abolish child poverty by 2020.
“This is only the start, the Government has committed to the long term future of housing in Britain by pledging to build 3 million new homes by 2020, and our initial estimates are around a quarter to one third of these should be for social renting.
“750,000 new social rented homes would make a huge contribution to meeting future need, while one million would take us towards a solution to the nation’s housing needs and ensure a safe, secure home for all.”
Mr Sampson added: “Low cost home ownership will help many hard working people get a foothold on the housing ladder. But the Government’s commitment must be met with ensuring it provides the right product for the market to guarantee people are getting value for money.”
On building on flood plains, Mr Sampson added: "With 10 per cent of England's land mass on flood plains, including major cities like London and York, it is not practical to totally rule out building on flood plains.
"But any building must be done sensibly, with proper investment in flood defences and drainage. Homes should also be designed with any future climate change in mind, including the possibility of extreme weather conditions.”