Setback for Brown’s housing targets

Plans for 3m new homes in the UK will be dealt a blow on Wednesday by an official report recommending a lower rate of housebuilding growth for the south-east, the region at the heart of Gordon Brown’s plans to increase home ownership.

The prime minister is keen to see swaths of new estates, not only in “regeneration” areas such as the Thames Gateway and Milton Keynes, but right across the Home Counties.

But the pace of that expansion may be held back after publication on Wednesday of a report on the south-east by three government inspectors appointed to assess the viability of that region’s development strategy.

The report says 32,000 new homes a year should be built over the next two decades, equal to 640,000 by 2026.

Although ahead of the 28,900 proposed by the region’s local assembly, the recommendation is behind the target of up to 38,000 homes a year set by the Government Office for the South East, which represents central government in the area. The 38,000 figure is in line with last month’s housing green paper, which lifted the government’s house building target to 3m new homes by 2020.

If Mr Brown wants to meet this target in the south-east, he may have to override the advice of the independent inspectors as well as local councils opposed to ad hoc development. The inspectors make clear that the figures in the report are targets, not ceilings.

But Henry Smith, chairman of the South East County Leaders, claimed: “Gordon Brown’s plans to impose millions of new homes on the south-east are in tatters after the government’s own planning inspectors rejected them.”

The proposals had been “impetuous and ill thought-out”.

In a further setback for the government, the inspectors say it is not possible for the nation to build its way out of the affordability crisis. “We cannot say whether there would be any discernible benefit at the regional level on affordability from our recommended increase in housing levels,” says the report.

Government-appointed inspectors are yet to report back on the strategies of England’s other regional assemblies. East Anglia’s report last year demanded a big increase in its housebuilding and others may do likewise.

A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said it was within central government’s power to make changes to the plan while taking on board the panel’s advice, the housing green paper and “any other evidence”. The government is still consulting on the green paper.

The south-east is the fastest-growing region of the UK, reflecting increased immigration and the economic strength of London.

The panel’s report avoids any large review of the area’s Green Belt, but concludes that some sites could contribute to development. The panel stays out of the flooding debate, saying this is an issue for local councils.

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