The prime minister recently told MPs that in the lead up to 2020 he wants to meet the housing need by building 3 million new homes using brownfield land, principally in environmentally friendly ways incorporating eco-towns and villages.

The government’s target is for 60% of new homes to be built on brownfield land by 2008. However, I fear this is not realistic with the current incentives.

With developers working hard to meet government targets for more housing, as outlined in the housing green paper at the end of July, incentives are still required to tackle the regeneration of brownfield land.

While I welcome recent proposals to accelerate the building of homes with a £500m boost to encourage local councils to focus on brownfield sites, I am concerned that this does not go far enough. Site clearance and decontamination work often needs to be carried out before any work can commence and I am dubious as to how far this will make a difference for developers.

I would like to see further financial incentives offered to encourage and assist housebuilders in the development of these often difficult and costly sites.

Tom Nicholson, managing director of Linden Homes Chiltern, by email

Source

RegenerateLive