Government house building plans questioned

Two out of three Britons believe the government will fail to achieve its aim of building three million new homes by 2020, a new survey has found.

A poll by Saint Consulting has found that the majority thought the target was unattainable, reports Reuters, news which may disappoint those looking to get on the housing ladder by conventional means.

It also found that Nimbyism was rife, with nine out of ten people having objected to a planning application, although this was concentrated on developments such as casinos and power stations, not homes.

One of the problems of trying to get enough homes built was the practice of land banking, the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has claimed.

The body has called for a land banking levy to be introduced in the budget to penalise developers that buy land and then leave it idle rather than building on it.

RTPI secretary general Robert Upton said that by such inaction building firms were "cynically manipulating the housing market".

The RTPI estimates such idle land current amounts to enough room to construct 225,000 homes.


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