Councils housebuilding record critisised

The Conservative Party manifesto branded them among the “worst offenders” in “failing to build sustainable and integrated communities”.

The party’s manifesto sets out plans to allow councils to build new developments of social housing but said it would support “only those councils that will build high-quality, sustainable and integrated communities”.

“In some instances, they have built for political gain rather than for social purpose,” it added, saying some have been “among the worst offenders in failing to build sustainable, integrated communities”.

Earlier, Theresa May’s party said allowing councils to compulsorily purchase brownfield sites at below market value could release sites for social housing, particularly in urban areas.

Meanwhile: Housbuilding figures are in:

Inside Housing says:

Today’s official housebuilding figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) show that activity increased in the January to March quarter of 2017 by all measures. Notable statistics include 21% year-on-year growth in both new build starts and new build completions.

Housing starts in England were estimated at 43,170 over the quarter – a 3% increase compared with the previous three months and 21% higher than a year ago. Completions were estimated at 39,520, which was 9% higher than the quarter before and 21% higher than a year ago.

On an annual basis, for the 12 months to March 2017, new build dwelling starts were also significantly up: starts totalled 162,880, up by 15% compared with the year to March 2016. Over the same period, completions totalled 147,960, an increase of 6% compared with last year.

Starts by housing associations were 16% higher than in the same quarter of 2016, at 23,610 units, and rose by 2% versus the quarter before, according to the data.

Meanwhile, Gavin Smart from the Chartered Institute of Housing has said: “We need a swift and significant increase in the number of new homes to get to grips with our national housing crisis, so it’s encouraging to see an increase in the number of homes built on both a quarterly and annual basis.

“However, we are still a long way from where we need to be. We know we need to build at least 250,000 homes a year in England to meet demand and these latest figures show just 147,960 were completed in the year to March.

“But it’s not just about building more homes, it’s about the kind of homes we build too. We need more homes across the spectrum – for home ownership, for private and social rent, and for shared ownership – and especially more affordable homes for people on lower incomes. We believe more investment is urgently needed in affordable homes to rent. In their General Election manifestos, all three major parties rightly recognised that we need an ambitious long-term plan to tackle our national housing crisis. Whoever wins the election, housing professionals across the country are ready to work with the new government on developing that plan and putting it into practice.”