Taylor Wimpey boss to lead Labour housing review

Shadow minister for housing and planning John Healey has announced Taylor Wimpey chief executive Pete Redfern will conduct an independent review of home ownership.

The Redfern review will analyse the “root causes” of the decline of home ownership in the UK and “set out the ideas needed for a wide new debate,” Healey told the Labour party conference.

Redfern will be joined on the review panel by Terrie Alafat, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, Dame Kate Barker, senior adviser to Credit Suisse and a former member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee, and Ian Mulheirn, director of consulting at Oxford Economics.

Healey went on to say that Labour need to “think bigger and be bolder” about how they tackle the housing crisis.

He added that they would “oppose a totally free hand for developers” and reiterated that Labour would “oppose the extension of Right to Buy to housing associations”, as previously written by Building.

Redfern said: “Enabling more British people to own their own homes is fundamental to creating a flourishing society and is an issue that has a profound impact on the country. This is not about politics, it affects us all. I feel strongly that home ownership has never reached the right level in our society.”

He will be advised by an expert panel, including Dame Kate Barker CBE, Terrie Alafat, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, and Ian Mulheirn, director of consulting at Oxford Economics. The report will be published in summer 2016.

Earlier Lillian Greenwood shadow secretary of state for transport said it was time for the country’s railways “to be run under public ownership, in the public interest, with affordable fares for all”.

She added that she wanted a new deal for rail with “a strong voice for passengers, a modern intercity identity, an expanded London Overground and devolution for other local networks, putting commuters first”.

Greenwood continued calling for 21st century infrastructure “to revolutionise the links between the cities of the Midlands and the North,” adding “so let’s invest in high speed rail - and let’s make sure it can be under public ownership, as a public service”.

She also used her speech to accuse the Tories of “planning the privatisation of Network Rail” behind closed doors.