Call for new garden cities to tackle housing shortage

GARDEN cities should be developed to tackle housing shortages and protect villages from development, a Conservative think tank says today.

In a new report written by Neil O’brien, Theresa May’s former special adviser, Onward says too many new homes are “tacked on” to settlements, upsetting local residents, and calls on the Government to build a fresh generation of towns instead.

The report also calls for curbs on the buy-to-let market to help young people get on to the housing ladder.

Mr O’brien says that the practice of buy-to-let has pushed up prices and locked young people out of the market. He advocates a reduction in tax reliefs that make it attractive.

Onward, which aims to develop new policy for the party, warns simply building more homes will not solve the problem in the UK, where home ownership has dropped to 63 per cent compared with 71 per cent in 2003.

Instead, it says, options should be explored to make the planning system less “passive” and to ensure councils keep more of the profits of development to invest in infrastructure.

Mr O’brien added: “Today, too many homes are built in exactly the places which maximise opposition, tacked on to the edges of existing settlements, or else crammed next to existing houses.

“Too many homes come without the supporting infrastructure that is needed. Looking at other countries shows that we will only build enough homes if we build in ways that address these problems.”

The paper comes as figures show a single first-time buyer faces saving for over a decade to find a 15 per cent deposit, rising to 17 years in London.