PM to reaffirm green belt pledge despite plans to ramp up housebuilding

[rollover]

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Minister tries to allay fears within Tory party that May is to roll back on manifesto promise with housing crisis white paper. PM will this week reaffirm a Conservative commitment to protecting the green belt, despite unveiling a government strategy that aims to ramp up the pace of housebuilding to ensure 1m new homes are built by 2020. The prime minister will seek to reassure Tory MPs and grassroots activists who have expressed concerns about the plans that she will not be rolling back on a pledge made by her predecessor, David Cameron, during the last general election. Guardian

The excitements didn't last long.

[zugzwang]

Andrew 'F***er Burke' Mitchell has played an instrumental role here, ensuring his constituents are not forced to espy plebians from the gated confines of their vast detached properties in Sutton Coldfield, or on their many important journeys to and from the M6, Waitrose etc.

The former investment banker owns many properties in the UK and abroad but was obliged to sell his £1m apartment in Val d'Isere to meet the legal costs he incurred after being found guilty of lying in court in 2014.

 

Edited February 6, 2017 by zugzwang

[Wayward]

I expect they will incentive build to rent by institutions like L&G etc and they will build very high density schemes and towers to cater for the plebs.  the country side views from the homes of rich folk living on the green belt will be protected.  The sum of human misery grows ever deeper.

[billybong]

 

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Minister tries to allay fears within Tory party that May is to roll back on manifesto promise with housing crisis white paper. PM will this week reaffirm a Conservative commitment to protecting the green belt, despite unveiling a government strategy that aims to ramp up the pace of housebuilding to ensure 1m new homes are built by 2020. The prime minister will seek to reassure Tory MPs and grassroots activists who have expressed concerns about the plans that she will not be rolling back on a pledge made by her predecessor, David Cameron, during the last general election

They've got a bit more than 3 years before the likely date of the next general election in May 2020.  They've built about say 150,000 a year in the 2 years since the 2015 general election.

So they have to build about 240,000 a year for the next 3 years.  Place your bets.  On past performance they'll build about 500,000 leaving them about 200,000 short over the 5 years.

Of course if they deploy the most "innovative" idea they've come up with and make new homes even tinier than ever before and even tinier than the current tiny ones (maybe 30% tinier) then they just might manage to build the number of units they claim.

Then there's the future requirements beyond 2020.

Edited February 6, 2017 by billybong

[zugzwang]

9 minutes ago, billybong said:

 

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They've got a bit more than 3 years before the likely date of the next general election in May 2020.  They've built about say 150,000 a year in the 2 years since the 2015 general election.

So they have to build about 240,000 a year for the next 3 years.  Place your bets.  On past performance they'll build about 500,000 leaving them about 200,000 short over the 5 years.

Of course if they deploy the most "innovative" idea they've come up with and make new homes even tinier than ever before and even tinier than the current tiny ones (maybe 30% tinier) then they just might manage to build the number of units they claim.

Then there's the future requirements beyond 2020.

That's pretty much how I see it, and we already know Barwell's vile intentions.

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Private housing developers should build homes with smaller rooms that do not meet existing minimum space standards so that young people can afford to buy them, the housing minister has said.

Gavin Barwell told the Conservative conference in Birmingham that he wanted the private sector to “innovate” to solve the housing crisis and that relaxing the rules on how cramped a flat can be might stop young people from being priced out.

The minister said that although most people “given the choice” would like to live in a reasonably sized home, this might not be possible for young people.

“We also want people to innovate – there are things the private sector is doing,” Mr Barwell told a fringe event.

“I don’t know if anyone’s seen any of the schemes that Pocket housing [Pocket Living] have done where they’ve basically done a deal with the GLA [Greater London Authority] to get some flexibility on space standards. As a result they can offer a product well below market price.

“Now look: most people, given the choice, would like to live in a nice big home. But I think for many young people – if I was 22 today, I would rather have the chance to own that than be priced out.”

Britain already builds the smallest homes in Europe with an average 500sq ft per one-bedroom flat – around the same size as a London Underground carriage. Flats built by Pocket, the developer cited by Mr Barwell, are 400sq ft and sell for just under a quarter of a million pounds.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/housing-crisis-gavin-barwell-flats-smaller-pocket-a7344061.html

 

[billybong]

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Flats built by Pocket, the developer cited by Mr Barwell, are 400sq ft and sell for just under a quarter of a million pounds.

 

A snip in so many ways.

Pocket of course having many meanings as well - apart from pocketing the money.

I also suspect the word "innovate" might also mean cut corners in construction quality just to meet political objectives.  Shades of the days of Ronan Point. Some would say a sort of banana republic/3rd world solution.

Built then soon to be demolished.

Buyer beware.

Edited February 6, 2017 by billybong