Putting housing back on target

Five years ago, the Government agreed to build between 15,000 and

19,000 new homes a year. Then, when it became apparent that this target was unlikely to be achieved, like demented Soviet planners demanding ever greater feats of tractor production, Ministers increased it to 22,000. Since then, if ever there was a hope that such a demand would be met, the recession has put paid to it.

The failure of Government housing policy, however, is not merely a quantitative one. Protests by local residents unhappy at large-scale developments in towns and villages where services and transport are already over-extended have been met with an ever more dictatorial response. Indeed, plans are now in place to overhaul the planning system so as to take more and more decisions out of the hands of local authorities and make it easier to build on previously sacrosanct green belt.

Against this background, the latest Tory plans come as a breath of fresh air. Giving local councils a financial incentive to build should ensure not only that homes are built where and when they are needed, but also that residents receive better quality services as a result.

Indeed, why limit this approach to housing? If councils were allowed to tax all new developments, and keep the proceeds, with local people offered better services in return for hosting a new road or factory, for example, this should help crucial development to proceed without earning the enmity of unwilling and unconsulted residents.