Tory housing plan is ill-conceived

Of course, housing construction levels were low in 2009. As everyone remotely connected with the industry knows, this was the consequence of the most severe international recession since the 1920s and one which impacted particularly severely on house building.

But if Mr Neill had done his homework, he would have realised that before the recession output of new homes had been rising consistently and steadily year on year. As the Barker review had demonstrated, we still had further to go but output by 2007 had reached the highest level for almost two decades.

Now, as we begin to see evidence of recovery from the recession, the key task for government is to rebuild confidence and help the industry return to an upward trend in new house building for the full range of needs.

The last thing that will help is the threat coming from Mr Neill and his Conservative colleagues of root and branch upheaval of the whole planning system. Tearing up all house building targets and dismantling most of the current planning arrangements will not restore confidence or revive house building.

On the contrary, it risks plunging the sector back into recession and denying hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens the prospect of a decent home.

Mr Neill and his colleagues have been told repeatedly over the past three months by countless numbers of highly experienced experts in the field, that their housing and planning proposals are ill-conceived, mutually contradictory and likely to have disastrous consequences if ever put into effect. It’s sad that they seem to be so unwilling to listen.

Nick Raynsford, MP for Greenwich and Woolwich