Former minister urges government to insist on affordable housing for rent
A former government minister has called on the government to ensure that planning authorities in London and other stress areas require affordable housing for rent and not just affordable dwellings for sale.
That proposal came from former environment minister Lord Whitty during a debate in the House of Lords over the government's house-building programme
Lord Whitty said that the provision of affordable housing in scheme the capital often meant flats which were sold for £300,000, way beyond the means of those where meant to benefit from the policy.
Lord Whitty's concern was echoed by Lord Best, director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation who said: "There is no point in building 210,000 extra homes a year if we don't make darn sure that we secure a proportion of those for people on lower incomes."
Responding for the government, ODPM minister Baroness Andrews stressed that the government agreed with Kate Barker's analysis of housing requirements.
She said: "We are now in an intensive, thoughtful and evidence-based process of exploring the right balance of what we need, what we can afford and where growth can most sensibly, coherently and organically be encouraged and sustained with the greatest benefit."
The minister reiterated the government's pledge to respond to the Barker report before Christmas.
Baroness Andrews also defended the government's decision to opt for four growth areas in southern England and the choice of the London Gateway; Milton Keynes/south Midlands; Ashford; and the London-Stansted-Cambridge-Peterbourough corridor.
Andrews said: "Let me stress that the reason those areas were identified was that they are building around existing communities, some of which - Corby, for example - were in urgent need of regeneration. This was not a frivolous or casual choice. We know there are difficulties. There are genuine tensions."
She also used her winding-up remarks to answer critics of the government's Pathfinder initiative, which has been characterised by some as a policy more damaging than the impact of Luftwaffe in the second World War.
"The Pathfinder projects are not dedicated to demolition" she insisted. "So far we have demolished 10,000 houses for good reasons but we have refurbished 20,000. As the market is changing, we are looking at the pattern of provision and the choices that the Pathfinder authorities have to make that those are the right choices for those communities."
Baroness Andrews comments were also echoed by departmental colleagues during a major Commons debate on the London Gateway proposals.
Although there was cross-party support for the growth area, backbench MPs voiced concern over the risk of flooding, urged greater government action over "greener" development in terms of tougher environmental building standards.
Dr Howard Stoat, Dartford's Labour MP argued that there was a risk that the housing plans would not be matched by economic and employment growth.
He called for the creation of a new agency to examine the viability of housing development in the Thames Gateway "from an economic and employment perspective".
He told the Commons: "If such an agency took the view that a development was unsustainable from an employment perspective, it should have power to issue a holding notice delaying development until its concerns have been satisfactorily addressed."
ODPM minister Jim Fitzpatrick cold-shouldered that idea, claiming the establishment of a new body "would over-complicate the planning process and slow down or programmes of development".
On the flooding issue Fitzpatrick stressed that all new developments would need to be adequately protected. "All our local partnerships will need to produce strategic flood risk assessments, as will individual developments," he added.
Fitzpatrick insisted that the government was "raising the bar for the energy efficiency of homes".
He added: "We are determined to take the opportunity that the Thames Gateway presents, and make a difference to the quality of life of thousands of people in both this generation and the next".
Meanwhile, the Commons Environmental Audit Committee has decided to re-visit the government's sustainable communities strategy and to hold an inquiry into the environmental impact of the proposals and the effect on future water resources.
Read 'Commons Hansard 20 October column 1002 onwards'.
Read 'Lords Hansard 20 October col 928 onwards'.
Roger Milne
28 October 2005
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