Greenfield sites 'should host 60,000 new homes every year'

Almost 60,000 new homes should be built every year until 2011 on greenfield sites and in villages if the demand for housing is to be met, it has been advised.

The Commission for Rural Communities (CRC) has said that such strategies will also help to reduce price rises, with homes in some countryside areas costing as much as 13 times the average regional salary, according to a CRC report.

The figures come after the National Housing and Planning Advice Unit (NHPAU) advised last week that the government's target of building 190,000 homes a year would not be enough to meet demand.

Demographic changes meant that roughly 223,000 would need to be built every year for demand to be met, the unit suggested.

"I have asked the Housing Corporation to look into how a new fund could improve provision of affordable housing in rural areas," commented rural affairs minister Barry Gardiner, announcing a plan to look into the issue.

"I want to know exactly how such a fund could achieve increased provision of affordable rural homes where they are needed, promote best practice and overcome local barriers.

'The fund would be designed to empower people to work out what is best for their particular parts of rural England," he added.


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