After attending the Number 10 Housing Summit today, Local
Government Association Chairman , said:
“The fact that local government had a seat at the table at the
Prime Minister’s housing summit today is another positive sign
that the Government rightly sees councils as part of the solution
to our housing shortage. It was encouraging that everyone around
the table agreed with us about the important role councils must
play and pleasing that the Prime Minister is taking personal
ownership of this challenge.
“The last time we were building the number of homes that the
country needs, in the 1970s, councils were building 40 per cent
of them.
“Councils want to get on with the job of building the new homes
that people in their areas desperately need again and are already
playing their part by approving nine out of 10 planning
applications.
“We now hope to see positive action taken by the Government in
the Autumn Budget to spark the genuine renaissance in council
housebuilding we desperately need.
“This includes the lifting of the housing borrowing cap to
allow councils to invest in building new affordable homes,
enabling councils to keep 100 per cent of receipts from any homes
they sell and ensuring planning departments can be
adequately funded so that they can cover the cost of processing
applications.”
