manchester foe logo

Housing White Paper: developers win again

news release

Housing Minister Gavin Barwell had been expected to set out a range of radical plans to boost the housing supply with the release of the government’s much-anticipated and delayed Housing White Paper today. However, there was little to indicate that the government are prepared to take the measures needed to properly address the housing crisis.

Naomi Luhde-Thompson, senior planner and policy advisor for Friends of the Earth, said:

“There’s never been a better moment to admit that the de-regulation of the planning system in England has only benefited one group: large-scale, or volume, housebuilders, and not people or the environment.

“We need homes built to zero carbon standards that are affordable but the changes made to the planning system in the last few years have clearly failed to deliver on building more homes – let alone affordable or zero-carbon ones.

“What we need is to scrap the most damaging policies, and the changes to permitted development, and give local government a much bigger role. For any hope of progress, it should also not be beyond the pale to make sustainable development a legal requirement, which would give more protection to our most precious places.”

For press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust

 

Find us on

Facebook

Support Us

Donate or join us using a standing order or PayPal.

Twitter @foemcr