Shapps: we’ll be a nation of builders

Shadow housing minister Grant Shapps used his speech at this week’s Conservative Party conference in Manchester to argue only Tory policies would deliver the homes Britain needs.

Casting the Conservatives as ‘the progressive party’ for housing, Mr Shapps said communities that agreed to ambitious house building programmes would receive financial rewards. ‘It’s very important for us to stake out our ground before the election by saying we need us to become a nation of builders,’ Mr Shapps told Inside Housing.

He confirmed a Conservative government would match council tax take for six years for every new home built - rising to a 125 per cent payment for every new affordable dwelling.

The Conservatives would also give communities more power to shape local development plans, he added.

But he had tough words for social housing regulator the Tenant Services Authority, and regeneration body, the Homes and Communities Agency.
Speaking at a fringe session he said the TSA was ‘driving me mad’ and that he was ‘not impressed’ with its work.

The HCA was ‘trying to do too much’ by allocating funding through 20 regional offices, he claimed. ‘The money could go directly to where it is needed,’ he added.

Phyllis Starkey, Labour MP and chair of the Communities and Local Government select committee, said she doubted the effectiveness of the council tax matching scheme.

‘I don’t believe that [the Conservatives] can demonstrate that this will be sufficient incentive,’ she warned. ‘There is a severe danger that development will dry up completely.’

Others voiced cautious approval. John Slaughter, spokesperson for the Home Builders’ Federation, said: ‘We can see in principle that a localism-based system would work, but we need lots of details that will give understanding and reassurance.’

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