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Greg Shapp's Housing Green Paper

It has now been announced that after previous attempts by Conservative MP Greg Clark pushing for a private members bill on redefining 'brownfield' sites to exclude gardens, the government has agreed to launch its own review into back garden development.  The news comes from Housing Minister the Rt Hon Margaret Beckett, after receiving questions in parliament in February 2009 on the issue.  Although precise details of the review are yet to be released, it has been assured that terms of reference shall be published imminently.

While the government concentrates on back garden development, the Conservative Party focus too on housing matters, releasing its own Housing Green Paper.

On 7th April Grant Shapps, Shadow Minister for Housing, launched a series of "radical" new housing policies in the latest Green Paper, entitled ‘Strong Foundations'.

The intention is to not only provide genuine social mobility to the four million social tenants in England, but aim to restore pride to the rundown council estates and help improve social responsibility.

The paper further outlines the Conservative Party's intention to ensure local houses are built for local people, with those who live in the area deciding on housing development suitable to their area, rather than a centralised and disconnected decision-making team from Whitehall.

Included proposals are:

  • Rewards for good behaviour - offering tenants with a record of good tenant behaviour for 5 years a 10% equity share in their property, and in turn in their neighbourhoods.
  • A ‘Right to Move' - a nationwide scheme supporting mobility of good tenants, allowing their movement to other social sector property.
  • Supporting low-cost housing - offering support to shared ownership schemes, helping those with lower incomes.
  • Local Housing Trusts - allowing bodies to develop in individual towns and villages, with planning powers, offering local knowledge in favour of the correct projects for each area.
  • Empty government property - Giving a voice to the public to demand the selling on of empty or rarely-used government property.
  • Stopping Whitehall imposing unwanted projects - Scrap regional planning; allow local councils to protect their own Green Belts and make their own choices on eco-towns.

Shapps comments on how the Conservative Party are now, 30 years later, planning on building on their ‘Right to Buy' policy of the 1980s, that transformed housing estates into mixed communities and gave opportunities to millions of families to climb onto the property ladder.

He highlights the desire for change from the long waiting lists under the Labour Party, coupled with welfare dependency, in favour of "social housing that promotes opportunity and social mobility".  He added the need for a compassionate policy, including the vulnerable and less fortunate.

Kate Gordon, Senior Planner at CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England) states: "It is right to empower local communities, but this must be within a framework that gives priority to urban regeneration and safeguarding our green spaces. Government needs to give a strong lead to ensure that this happens."

David Cameron supports Shapps, acknowledging a need for a more localised approach, in which local communities can meet their specific housing needs.  He concludes that "While houses may have a price, homes have a value" - a pivotal message in this difficult period.

For any further information, please contact Stephanie Garnett at stephanie.garnett@remarkablegroup.co.uk or on 01962 893 893

 

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