Council Leader Slams Brown’s ‘Simplistic’ Housing Strategy

The leader of Oxfordshire County Council has branded Gordon Brown’s much heralded housing plans as “simplistic” and says that they will not have the effect of helping people on to the housing ladder.

The Prime Minister has announced plans to build three million new homes by 2020 with 25-year fixed-rate affordable mortgages and a Homes Agency to oversee new developments.

Councillor Keith R Mitchell CBE, who is also chairman of the South East England Regional Assembly, said he was pleased to hear assurances that the green belt would be unaffected but added that he was far from convinced that this would prove to be the case.

He said: “There has been a lot of talk but little detail from the Prime Minister. It is all very simplistic. We have a national stock of 22 million homes. Building 150,000, 200,000 or 300,000 new homes per year will have a very limited impact on housing prices.”

Mr Mitchell called for a “far broader approach” and for the Government to make housing and infrastructure investment a top priority. “Affordable homes must be built, social housing must be taken seriously and new schools, roads and other key infrastructure work must accompany this,” he said.

“In Oxfordshire and the South East, simply upping housing numbers without infrastructure will leave people unable to access school places, secure health care or even move freely on our road and rail network. The South East contributes £11 billion more each year than it receives from the Treasury. This region is the country’s engine room.

“Simplistic solutions to the housing crisis threaten our economy and, therefore, the nation’s economy. We need something far more carefully thought out and substantial than we are getting.”