Housing bill of Queen’s speech welcomed
Filed Under Country Curtain | Posted on January 12, 2008
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The Housing and Regeneration Bill and the Planning Bill will help make possible the 240,000 new homes a year from 2016 announced by the Prime Minister.
All homes will be built to higher environmental standards, and to zero carbon from 2016, with a million zero carbon homes in the next decade from then.Gordon Brown announced the coalition of 170 organisations - homebuilders, councils, planners and green groups - who have now signed up to this goal.
78 extra Local Authorities, the majority of which are in the three Northern regions, have now applied to become new growth points in response to the Housing Green Paper, with the potential to deliver 450, 000 extra homes.
The Prime Minister announced his aim that half the new homes built on disused public sector sites will now be designated affordable housing - for social rent, first-time buyers and key workers.
Housing Minister Yvette Cooper said:
%26quot;This Government is putting unprecedented investment into new and affordable housing, to give first-time buyers and young families a foot onto the ladder.
%26quot;New homes will be greener to tackle the challenge of climate change, with world-beating environmental standards. We%26#39;re building the first new towns for several generations, with ten new eco-towns across the country.
%26quot;But this must be a shared endeavour - between Government, councils, developers and local communities. If we don%26#39;t act now, we%26#39;re letting down future first-time buyers.%26quot;
The Housing and Regeneration Bill will:
* take forward key measures to support the delivery of the three million new homes by 2020 that are needed to meet growing demand and rising aspirations. It will create the Homes and Communities Agency (H%26amp;C), which will deliver more new and affordable homes in mixed and sustainable communities.
* by bringing together land and housing, H%26amp;C will support the regeneration and delivery of new social and affordable housing, both social and private. It will also make better use of surplus public sector land and maximise the potential for brownfield development.
* give an opportunity to provide powers for the new Homes and Communities Agency to lead the delivery of major projects, such as an eco-town
* take forward the recommendations made by Professor Martin Cave in his report %26#39;Every tenant matters: A review of social housing regulation%26#39; published in June 2007. It will create the Office for Tenants and Social Landlords, which will place tenants at the heart of social housing, giving them a stronger voice and more choice.
* take forward other detailed measures to support the delivery of the commitments in the Housing Green Paper, to empower tenants and improve housing services including making it easier for councils to build social housing
The Planning Bill will:
* include proposals for a faster and fairer planning system, implementing the proposals in the Planning White Paper, particularly for nationally significant infrastructure projects.
* allow more timely decisions on infrastructure projects which are key to economic growth, international competitiveness, tackling climate change, energy security and improving quality of life
* deliver more transparent decisions with improved opportunities for public engagement at every stage
* create clearer national infrastructure policy and better developed infrastructure projects
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