Thursday, May 13, 2010
Expected
Conservativehome: News of junior ministerial appointments is now coming through...
3,30pm: Grant Shapps is Housing Minister
Posted by dill @ 03:52 PM (936 views) Add Comment
8 Comments
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1. uncle tom said...
Grant Shapps is housing minister - quite a pro-active and ambitious guy with a sound business background.
He likes the limelight, so is unlikely to sit back and do nothing..
2. mark wadsworth said...
Hooray!
Our house-price-rise-fuelled economy is saved!
The Hallowed Greenbelt is saved!
Stamp Duty Land Tax is cut to "help first time buyers"!
Council housing sold off to "help the spread of homeownership"!
Council Tax frozen!
Grants for owners of derelict properties!
Main residences exempted from Iheritance Tax
(continued page 94).
3. dill said...
@1. "He likes the limelight, so is unlikely to sit back and do nothing.."
I don't think he'll have any choice, UT. Shelter have published their report putting dramatic numbers on potentially troubled mortgages. But, given the new and necessary fiscal approach, it's hard to reconcile how mortgage support schemes can be vindicated. As things stand, homelessness is set to be a real issue again. Seems farcical, btw, that after a years of a house price bubble and the stress to come - Housing is only a junior ministerial dept.
4. 51ck-6-51x said...
dill,
N.B. it's not that housing is a "junior department" it's that housing is part of the DCLG. The housing minister will, therefore, report to Eric Pickles, MP.
5. Colly_wolly said...
Wasn't that supposed to be Kirsty's job?
6. dill said...
@4
Indeed.
7. tenant super said...
Shapps is bright but naive. His plan is to allow local people to vote directly in proposed development applications and 90% of voters would have to back a plan before it is approved. Nothing will get built ... ever.
Of course no party wants a crash but I don't think this plan is completely designed to halt building. I genuinely think Shapps is just incredibly and foolishly optimistic thinking the promise of a few extra quid to the council is going to get people to approve a development.
8. uncle tom said...
I think we should keep an open mind on this guy, and encourage him to make progress on the need to get more homes built.
Importantly, this can be done without govt spending anything; and given that almost every other dept will be neutralised by the need to save cash, the ability to create jobs without raiding the coffers gives him an opportunity to shine.
The official Tory line prior to the election was devised to avoid worrying people while keeping all options open; and the concept of carrot and stick, with local vetos, is likely to be much more effective in rural areas than the stalinist diktat approach we've seen before.
Rural communities are much better disposed to new development than is often assumed - all they want is control over what and where; and mostly the what is small family homes, and the where is land that has already been trashed..
And as for Eric P - I doubt he will stand in Grant's way; more likely he'll let Grant do the donkey work, and then take some of the credit..