New Minister attacks council over housing

Keighley MP Kris Hopkins said local authorities have to work with communities to decide the best locations for new housing developments.

The Government has been accused of fuelling a new house price bubble by focusing on financial help for buyers rather than increasing supply.

In York, the Labour council is facing opposition from Conservatives and Liberal Democrats over proposals which could make land available for 22,000 homes.

Mr Hopkins said house-building is at its highest levels since 2008 and the Government is investing in new affordable homes but the issue of where houses are built has to be decided locally.

“We demand that local districts listen and shape their communities and I think if I lived in York at this moment and I was being told what was going to happen rather than actually that council listening to people who want to shape their community I would be quite upset.”

Mr Hopkins said there was “a responsibility upon us all” to understand that houses needed to be built to provide homes for families.

He added: “But the shape of that village and the shape of that town should be locally led and is not going to be directed by me as Housing Minister, it’s going to be shaped at a local level which means both the district and residents taking responsibility.”

Mr Hopkins, who was made Housing Minister in last month’s Government reshuffle, was speaking at a development in Brockholes, near Huddersfield, being built with the help of a Government loan.

York Council leader James Alexander said: “I welcome the Minister’s support for local solutions to the housing challenges which the country faces. Here in York we have a growing population and not enough houses to meet this demand.

“We know a lack of housing is driving up the cost of owning or renting property and it is already pricing people out of the market. In some cases that means families are having to move out of the city. That cannot be right. I believe the Local Plan provides real hope for York families that they – and future generations – will be able to live in this great city.”