Home-builders today gave cautious support to a recommendation that an extra 5,000 homes a year should be built in the South West – but said this is Still falling short of government targets.
An independent report for the South West said the amount of homes being built over the next 20 years needs to increase from 23,000 to 28,000 a year.
The increase would bring the total number of houses being built increased to 560,000 homes by 2026, an increase by a total 100,000 homes. The recommendations also call for the number of affordable houses being built to increase from 7,500 to 10,000 each year.
Alan Soldat, director at Barton Willmore’s Bristol office, advised a consortium of 15 house-builders, landowners and developers including Taylor Wimpey, Redrow Homes and Bovis Homes.
Still falls short
'We welcome the recommendations set out in today’s panel report which identifies the need to build 560,000 homes over the next 20 years', he said. ‘Our consortium of 15 clients strongly believed that the 23,000 homes a year initial proposal would fail to meet the needs of the Region.’
‘However whilst we are pleased that an additional 5,000 homes a year have been added, this still falls short of what is needed to support the Government’s target of 240,000 houses a year for England as a whole, growth plans of the South West Regional Economic Strategy or the Government’s affordability agenda, and the numbers may need to rise again.’
Last year Gordon Brown announced he wanted an additional 3m homes built by 2020.
The report also called for more clarity in relation to sustainable development and building in areas that may be at risk of flooding.
No comments yet