Housing plans slammed

Posted: 16 Aug 2007 12:11:32 GMT

Plans to increase the number of new homes being built in the UK have been criticised by a government advisor.

Plans to increase the number of new homes being built in the UK have been criticised by a government advisor.

Gordon Brown announced earlier this year that three million new homes would be built by 2020 in a bid to tackle the affordability crisis that is currently affecting much of the country.

However, the government's chief advisor on affordable housing, Stephen Nickell, says that the proposals do not go far enough.

Speaking on BBC Radio Four's Analysis programme, Mr Nickell said: "If you actually work it out, that three million new houses by 2020 is not in fact enough to provide for the increase in the number of households expected by 2020.

"Households are expected to increase by 223,000 a year on average; and if they increase at that rate until 2020, that comes to more than three million.

"If they're to make a real dent in the affordability problem and to make housing more affordable to a greater proportion of the population, then they're going to have to go beyond that," he added.

Figures recently published by the Council of Mortgage Lenders show that fewer FTBs are entering the market at present due to a lack of affordable housing.

© Houseladder Ltd