Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP

STATEMENT TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS

Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP, Minister for Housing, Department for Communities and Local Government — 23 July 2007

With permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to make a statement about housing supply.

Can I start by supporting the statement of my Right Honourable Friend and joining the many members of the house who have expressed their sympathy to the thousands of families whose lives have been turned upside down by the unprecedented flooding affecting wide parts of the country.

The government is publishing today its Housing Green Paper, setting out proposals to deliver the homes Britain urgently needs today and for the future.

The House should be proud of the huge steps forward this country has taken since 1997. A two-thirds cut in rough sleeping; £20bn investment in social housing that has helped lift over a million children out of cold or poor conditions; and economic stability that has given over one million more people the opportunity to become homeowners. But we also need to respond to new challenges.

Demand for homes to buy or rent is growing faster than supply, and homes are becoming less affordable as a result. Already, many first-time buyers rely on the help of friends or family to get a foot on the ladder. It simply isn't fair that your chance of owning your home should depend so much on whether your parents or grandparents owned their homes. Nor is it fair that children are growing up in overcrowded or temporary accommodation waiting for a settled home. Without further action, housing could become one of the greatest sources of social inequality in the next 20 years.

In addition, Mr Speaker, we also need to respond to the challenge of climate change. Our homes account for more than a quarter of national carbon emissions. We must provide greener, better designed housing for the future. And, as recent events have highlighted, it is absolutely vital to take steps to protect all our communities from flooding and from the consequences of climate change.

In the face of these three challenges, we propose strong action. First, we will build more homes to meet growing demand. The level of house building is at its highest for 17 years. But it is not enough. Moreover, without firm action there is no guarantee that growth will continue, as short-term market pressures mean some developers have slowed starts this year.

We believe that a total of 3 million new homes are needed by 2020 — and we will deliver 2 million of these by 2016. This will include new homes in the North as well as the South, as every region is seeing demand outstrip supply. In more areas we need additional affordable homes alongside areas of housing-market renewal.

Already, locations for 1.6 million homes are identified in current regional plans, with up to a further 200,000 emerging in the new regional spatial strategies and future revisions to them. This includes 650,000 homes in the growth areas such as the Thames Gateway and Milton Keynes.

Forty-five towns and cities have already come forward with proposals for additional homes over the next 10 years in New Growth Points, and we are today inviting more councils to come forward to be New Growth Points — including in the North of England. We are also inviting bids for councils and developers to come forward with proposals for at least five new eco towns.

Mr Speaker, no-one should be in any doubt about the historic scale of this vision. We are proposing the first new towns in 40 years. Further changes are needed to support the delivery of these homes. Providing enough land is vital and councils need to identify 15 years supply of appropriate land for housing, with the continuing priority for sustainable brownfield land. We will not change the rules on strong greenbelt protection.

We will introduce additional funding and incentives for councils and communities who are showing a lead in delivering growth, through a new Housing and Planning Delivery Grant, a new £300mn Community Infrastructure Fund and additional funding dedicated for high-growth areas.

We are consulting on proposals to deter developers from seeking planning permission and then sitting on land without bringing forward new homes.

We will work across government to bring forward more brownfield land. I can announce that the MoD has agreed to bring forward six sites with the potential for 7,000 homes — including sites at Aldershot and Chichester. The Department of Transport has also identified hundreds of potential sites.

We will support local councils in setting up new Local Housing Companies with partners to use their own land to build more homes. I can announce that 14 councils have already come forward. They estimate that in their areas alone they have the potential to deliver 35,000 homes on their land, with 17,500 of them being affordable homes.

Better use also needs to be made of empty homes , including those left empty long-term by investors and speculators. Councils do already have powers to take action, and we will look at the potential for additional incentives for them to do so.

Second, Mr Speaker, building more homes is crucial. But they must also be better homes and more sustainable homes. In the 1960s, quality was sacrificed in the name of speed. We must not make those mistakes again.

Today, our new homes must be part of well-designed and mixed communities with excellent local facilities. That means more family homes, as well as parks and green spaces. And with the urgent challenge of climate change, they must be greener homes, built to the highest environmental standards.

I can confirm that from 2016 all new homes will need to be zero-carbon. We are the first country to set such an ambitious timetable, and I welcome the support of councils, green groups and developers across the country who have committed to working with use to make this happen. But as well as helping prevent climate change, we need to ensure our homes are resilient to its consequences.

Over centuries many homes have been built in high-risk flood areas, and My Right Honourable Friend has set out immediate action to support the families suffering dreadfully from the extreme weather.

Since 1997 we have progressively strengthened rules on planning to protect homes from flooding, with much higher standards brought in last year. These new rules require councils to consult the Environment Agency. Where the Environment Agency says the risk is too high and councils persist against that advice, we in government will be prepared to take over those decisions ourselves.

We will also look further at what needs to be done to be ready for future challenges. Later this year we will publish a new Planning Policy Statement, which will require local councils to plan more widely for the consequences of climate change.

Third, Mr Speaker, we believe a decent home should be for the many, not the few.

I can announce that we will invest £8bn in increasing affordable housing over the next three years — a £3bn increase compared to the previous spending review. This is on top of continuing investment in decent homes, including over £2bn on the ALMO programme over the next three years.

Mr Speaker, we have listened to the evidence from Shelter and the National Housing Federation who have said we need 70,000 affordable homes a year, of which 50,000 should be new social housing. I can announce that by 2010/11 we will deliver over 70,000 new affordable homes a year. By 2010/11 we will deliver 45,000 new social homes a year, with a goal of 50,000 in the next spending review. We will also deliver 25,000 new shared-ownership homes through expanding existing programmes. In addition, we will look to support tens of thousands of additional shared-ownership homes through public-sector land and Local Housing Companies.

As rural areas face particular pressures, we will set a specific target for increasing affordable homes in rural areas later this year after consultation with the regional assemblies.

We want to see more work by local councils, housing associations and the private sector to increase affordable housing — both to buy and to rent. We are announcing today the first 10 ALMOs and local authority special-venture vehicles approved to bid for social housing grant in order to build council homes. We are also consulting on changes to the rules on the treatment of rents and receipts from new homes, which would give councils more flexibility to build on their land within responsible public-finance rules.

We also believe that first-time buyers need more flexible and competitive products today. The Treasury are consulting on new ways to support more affordable long-term fixed-rate mortgages. We have also commissioned further work, led by Bryan Pomeroy, on expanding private-sector shared-equity products and will launch new shared-equity products next year. In the meantime, we will offer a new 17.5 per cent government equity loan for key workers and other priority first-time buyers.

Mr Speaker, 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.

To deliver we will need an expanded skilled workforce and the new Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills will lead work to expand construction apprenticeships and work with partners in the sector to raise skills.

We know there is no quick fix to the issues we face. Building more homes takes time. But this must be a shared endeavour. Central government is today setting a bolder framework for the future, but we will only achieve our goals if those at regional and local levels in the public, private and third sectors, and in local communities, all play their part in supporting the homes we need.

Building the sustainable homes needed by young people today and future generations is a test of our commitment to supporting people's aspirations and to achieving social justice.

I commend these proposals to the House.

Biography of Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP, Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government

Yvette Cooper is Housing Minister and attends Cabinet. Her appointment was announced in June 2007. Yvette Cooper was Minister of State for Housing and Planning in the Department for Communities and Local Government, previously the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), from 2005. Before this, she was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the ODPM.

From May 2002 to June 2003 she was Parliamentary Secretary at the Lord Chancellor's Department, and from October 1999 she was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health.

She has been Member of Parliament for Pontefract and Castleford since 1 May 1997. Before being appointed as Health Minister, Ms Cooper was a Member of the Education and Employment Select Committee and the Intelligence and Security Committee.

Ms Cooper was previously Economic Columnist and Leader Writer for The Independent. She worked as Policy Adviser to Labour's Treasury Team in opposition between 1990–94 and as Policy Adviser to the Bill Clinton Presidential Campaign in 1992.