House-building target increased

The south-east must overcome  the economic slowdown to increase house building by 4%, the Department for Communities & Local Government has said.

The South East Plan, published last week, stated that 33,125 homes should be built annually — an increase on the 32,000 agreed last August. The South East Regional Assembly draft special strategy of 2006 proposed a mere 28,900 homes.

The DCLG justified the increase on the back of a regional forecast of 35,850 new households forming each year up to 2026.

Parmjit Dhanda, junior local government minister, said: "Beyond the short-term squeeze of the credit crunch the number of new households is still outgrowing the number of homes being built. First-time buyers are getting older and more people are choosing to live alone."

Paul Carter (Con), the new chairman of the regional assembly and Kent CC leader, questioned whether the latest projections were realistic, given the present economic climate. "We know that on the ground very little is being built at the moment," he said.

A week of upheaval for the regional assembly also saw its chief executive Paul Bevan announce that he was moving on after nine years in the post.

The government also published two other regional plans for the East Midlands and the south-west this week.

The east midlands plan rejected an independent panel's advice to axe the green belt between Derby and Nottingham. Overall, it recommended a 3.4% increase in house building to 21,750 homes per annum compared to the panel's target.

And the south-west plan proposed a 4% rise on its panel's house building target to 29,623.