Revealed: The huge north-south divide in house building

New analysis shows that while twice as many homes were being built in the North compared to London in the 1980s the capital has seen rapid growth over the last 30 years.

Across the North, the rate of house-building has fallen by 28 per cent compared to 1980s levels and in parts of Yorkshire the decline has been even more marked.

On the Humber, the average number of new homes built has fallen by almost half and there has been a 29 per cent fall in Sheffield and its neighbouring authorities.

The Leeds City Region area has fared better with a fall of just seven per cent.

The new Homes for the North campaign, backed by the 20 biggest housing associations, argues the drop in house-building across Yorkshire reflects the gap in economic activity with the South-East.

And it warns that investment in new housing that is affordable to working families needs to be part of wider plans to grow the Yorkshire economy as part of the Government’s ‘northern powerhouse’ vision.

Mark Henderson, chairman of Homes for the North, said: “For the Northern Powerhouse to become a reality, we need more good quality homes to support and attract a modern, growing workforce.

“Today’s research shows how northern city regions have struggled to keep up with the same level of housebuilding as in the 1980s.

“This is in stark contrast to London, which has seen a surge in its population over the past 30 years with the boom in the services sector.

“However it is far from doom and gloom in the north. In fact the devolution agenda offers northern towns and cities a great opportunity to attract new investment, jobs and people.

“As more people flock to our great northern regions, demand for homes of all tenures will increase. Homes for the North will be at the heart of making this a reality.”

The analysis of house-building trends by the Policy Exchange thinktank for Homes for the North is published as new figures show Yorkshire is bucking the natio nal trend on new homes.

The National House Building Council recorded a seven per cent rise in the number of new homes it registered in 2015 compared to the previous year.

However, Yorkshire saw a 13 per cent drop with just 7,633 homes registered with NHBC which takes figures from builders responsible for around 80 per cent of homes in the UK.

Housing Minister Brandon Lewis said: “We’ve brought house building back from the brink with the number of new homes across the north up 36 per cent in the last year. However, we know there is more to do.

“That’s why we’ve doubled the housing budget to support the boldest plan for housing by any government since the 1970s, including our housing zone programme, which has the potential to deliver thousands of new homes for hardworking families across the region.

“We’ve also recently announced the launch of the Greater Manchester Land Commission that will help deliver a further 10,000 properties a year and just this week brought forward more than 150 acres of surplus public land for housing in Warrington, Doncaster and near Preston.”

Councils across Yorkshire are consulting on proposals for house-building over the next 15 years.

Many of the local plans involve allowing the building of some homes on green belt land which has proved highly controversial with local communities.

The Government has told councils their local plans must be ready by next year or ministers will intervene.