Policy to change housing market

IT’S fair to say that there were a few moves which stole the show at the end of the Conservative Party Conference, but while everyone was still caught up in a bit of disco fever, the Prime Minister announced a policy in her speech that has the potential to transform Britain’s housing market, and make home ownership a genuinely affordable aspiration for a generation who have seen it move further and further away.

Lifting the cap on the amount councils can borrow in order to build homes will bring a much needed correctional boost to a market which we all accept isn’t working as it should.

We have already made great progress on building the homes our country needs, and 2016-17 was a record year with 217,350 completed, however Councils built fewer than 3,000 of these.

Freeing Local Authorities from the constraints of the cap will allow them to build on progress already made, and crucially will ensure that we build the right homes in the right places.

One of the most common concerns which constituents raise with any proposed development is whether there is infrastructure available to accommodate hundreds of new homes.

That’s why I’m pleased to see regenerations of derelict sites, such as the Tatton Cinema and Sim Chem House in Cheadle, and the use of brownfield sites across Stockport, providing new homes close to existing transport links.

Councils around the country can take advantage of permitted development rights and get building the right kinds of homes where they’re needed most.

It’s important that these homes are affordable too, with the latest Office for National Statistics data showing that over the past decade, 22 to 29-year-olds have become far less likely to own a home, with the proportion of this age group who are homeowners having fallen from 37 per cent to 27pc. This is clearly unsustainable, however with 2017 seeing more first-time buyers than any year since the financial crash we are beginning to have a more positive story to tell.

The potential to rekindle the property-owning democracy is within our reach. I’m encouraged by the prospect of further housebuilding success thanks to this new policy, allowing Councils to perform a role which was so important to our housing market in past decades, and will be equally as important in fixing it for the future.