Kate Barker has hit back at critics who said the 140,000 extra houses she called for in her report on housing supply were unnecessary.
Barker said allegations – from groups such as the Campaign to Protect Rural England – that there wasn't a massive housing shortage in the South-east were untrue.

A report published by the CPRE in March said revised data from the 2001 census showed the population was 900,000 lower than previously assumed, and that there were more dwellings than households.

But Barker cited the latest analysis of the census data, by Cambridge University, as proof that these claims were not true.

"In fact, taken together with other evidence, the latest census-based estimates indicate new supply has been less than adequate," she said.

"It all suggests greater pressure of demand, relative to supply, than the initial census did." She added that the idea of using the country's 700,000 empty homes to solve the problem was unrealistic.

Source

Housing Today