Clause 6
Housing and Regeneration Bill
3:30 pm
Alistair Burt (Shadow Minister, Communities and Local Government; North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)
Absolutely. There is no question of disagreement about that. The hon. Gentleman is right. In some of the best examples, a combination of changes in land use and sometimes in density can make things work better—there can even be high density with the right sort of public squares and open spaces—and the provision of new housing can be the key in that respect; some terrific places are being built in some urban areas. Manchester, and other places in the north-west, are great examples.
The point that the hon. Gentleman made at the beginning of his intervention is important. More and more we are coming to realise that it is the combination of the two things we have discussed that is crucial. Outside bodies, who wanted us to scrutinise the creation of the agency in the manner to which I referred at the start of the sitting, expressed some worry, but that is not to deny that it could work very well. However, to ensure that it concentrates on the right thing it must bring together, within its existing terms and objectives, personal and social regeneration and physical regeneration
The second matter arises from one or two different sources. Again, we are not the only ones who worry about the agency pursuing targets and the numbers game being paramount. The brief from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors states:
“It is essential that a strong commitment to regeneration is retained by the new ‘superquango’. The RICS has concerns that the regeneration aspects of the new body could be lost in the Government’s push to increase house building levels significantly.”
In its submission to the Committee, the Federation of Master Builders, said:
“Genuine concerns about unmet housing needs and house price inflation have meant that the emphasis is on housing numbers. Whilst we acknowledge the need to provide more homes there is also a risk of a return to the numbers game which characterised housing policy in the 1950s and the 1960s.”
My third and final point on the clause is that the federation also raises the interesting matter of how much the new agency will be able to get involved in improving the quality of existing housing, so that the answers to our housing policy are based not just on the provision of new homes. There is no doubt that new homes are needed, but there is still the opportunity to do more with existing homes and existing areas and the federation’s submission talks a lot about that. It says:
“Existing neighbourhoods, villages and towns can solve the housing crisis by offering an estimated 18 million family sized homes, empty and underused buildings, ready infrastructure and other small underused spaces that have the capacity to meet the Government’s projected housing need.”
I am interested in the answers to three questions: first, how will the new agency ensure that social and physical regeneration are handled together? Secondly, how can the Minister further reassure the Committee and the outside bodies that made representations that it is not just a numbers game? Thirdly, to what extent will the agency also be charged with the need to regenerate existing neighbourhoods and communities without new build but with existing properties, using regeneration in that sense?