Steve Lees, Director at smartnewhomes.com, on the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review:
“The chancellor’s statement this afternoon will have won him no friends in the housebuilding community. The usual platitudes about the new homes bonus and reform of the planning system were there, but there is still no flesh on those bare bones, in the form of a timescale or implementation budget.
“But while up to now the ‘localism’ agenda has at least been unambiguous - if not entirely popular - the promise to deliver 150,000 new affordable homes over four years sounds uncannily like a central target of precisely the kind that Grant Shapps has been campaigning against. The chancellor’s comment that that he wanted to see more power in the hands of local people will also be music to the ears of nimbys around the country but a hammer blow to anyone who ever hopes to afford their own home.
“Housebuilders have been struggling for months now over how to deal with the complete lack of clarity on the government’s housing plans. The CSR was a chance to give renewed clarity and impetus to this vital industry, which creates jobs, improves communities, and which could help to stem the increase in housing costs by supplying more homes. Instead, George Osborne’s statement has actually achieved the difficult task of muddying the waters still further.”
See Also: Press Releases (0), Property News (0), Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review (0), Grant Shapps (0), CSR (0)
Date Published: 20 October 2010
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