Commenting on Prime Minister Gordon Brown�s housebuilidng proposals.
Roger Humber, housing spokesperson for the National Federation of Builders (NFB) said:
�The increase from 200,000 houses per annum by 2016 to 240,000 is a welcome recognition by the Government of the scale of housing shortage and the levels of housebuilding that are required to influence affordability. However, we still need full details of how this is to be delivered in terms of greater planning efficiency and the delivery of land with planning permission by local authorities who are, in many cases, in denial about the need for more housebuilding.
�With regard to the Planning Gain Supplement (PGS) Bill, and the Prime Minister�s suggestion that it will only be brought forward if a better way of delivering benefits to the community cannot be found, the industry is convinced that PGS is the worst possible option and that improvements to the current system of section 106 agreements, or local tariffs, are a more effective way of releasing funds to pay for infrastructure.�
�In many respects this is a typical Gordon Brown-type statement, launching as �new� policies which have already been announced.�
Ends