industry news 5 NEW HOUSING MINISTER
Barwell given Housing and Planning brief at “critical juncture”
housing industry has a new Housing and Planning Minister, Gavin Barwell. Responding to Barwell’s appointment, FMB
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chief executive Brian Berry said: “We welcome the appointment. The Government has rightly identified housing as one of the greatest challenges facing this country, and having reaf- firmed its commitment to building one million new homes over this parliament, he is assuming an important position at a critical juncture.” Barwell is MP for Croydon Central and has
previously been a senior government Whip and held several other key roles in the Government. Following his appointment the new Minister immediately took to Twitter saying he was “look- ing forward to working with councils, housing associations, developers and investors to ensure we build the homes people need and deserve.” Barwell also said he would work with the Mayor of London to deliver housing. The new Minister was previously Parliamen-
tary Private Secretary to Greg Clark, MP when he was Minister for Cities and Decentralisation.
CAMERON’S HOUSING LEGACY
Report slams Cameron’s housebuilding legacy R
esearch commissioned by John Healey MP is claimed to show a failure by David Cameron on housebuilding, with figures
showing the number of houses built per year dur- ing his six years as PM were the lowest since 1923. According to the research, an average of
123,560 homes were built across England and Wales per year, the lowest figures since Stanley Baldwin was Prime Minister. This average was 21 per cent fewer than Tony Blair achieved, with a total of 148,149 per year. John Healey commented: “These figures reveal
David Cameron’s legacy of six years of failure on housing.” Figures released by the DCLG earlier in May
however told that the number of new-builds had continued to rise since the financial crash, and at the time of publication, newly built homes had been built at the highest rate since 2008/2009. A spokesperson from the DCLG said: “The
2008 economic crash devastated the housebuild- ing industry leading to the lowest levels of starts for any peacetime year since the 1920s. However housing completions are now at their highest annual level since 2009 and since 2010, over 300,000 households have been helped into home-
ownership through government-backed schemes. They concluded: “The Housing and Planning
Act will allow us to go even further, delivering our ambition to build an additional 1 million homes.” The Federation of Master Builders commented:
“On the surface, the house building statistics for Cameron’s premiership don’t reflect well on him but it’s important to remember the economic hand he was dealt and the lessons learned from the fail- ure of his early years. Completions were catastrophically low when
he entered No. 10 in 2010, with annual housing starts numbering only 125,000, a drop of nearly 100,000 on 2007/2008. In this time, house builders of all sizes were hit hard, but SME house builders in particular felt the full brunt of the financial crash.” The FMB spokesperson continued: “There’s
no doubt that the Government could have inter- vened earlier to aid these smaller firms as evidenced by the fact that the number of SME house builders declined by around 50% in the years following the financial crisis. As a result, the industry was less capable of responding to the sub- sequent upturn that accompanied the second half of Cameron’s leadership. Help to Buy was key in
the rejuvenation, but it did little to tackle the loss of capacity in the supply side. “Cameron clearly recognised the dangers of
stagnation in the housing market that marked the early years of his leadership, and he put house building and home ownership at the centre of his vision for the country. And in the past two years of his premiership, under the guidance of the then Housing Minister Brandon Lewis, there was a much more determined focus on removing the supply side barriers to house building, particularly in terms of SMEs.” The FMB concluded: “The premature end to
Cameron’s leadership means that the ambition to truly revitalise the sector will have to be achieved by his successor, who seems to be maintaining his emphasis on new homes.”
respond online at
www.hbdonline.co.uk
ith Brandon Lewis moving to the position of Minister of State for policing and the fire service, the
In September 2012, he was appointed as PPS to Michael Gove, then Secretary of State for Education. His rise to prominence within the Cameron administration came with Barwell’s appointment to Assistant Government Whip and subsequently Government Whip, Lord Commissioner in July 2014. His appointment is thought to be a clear
attempt to rebalance the domination of MPs rep- resenting the ‘shires’ in support of PM Theresa May’s assertion that she wants a Government which reflects all sections of society. In his Croy- don constituency Barwell has opposed Green Belt release, but has been pro-town centre devel- opment, highlighting the importance of key developments for communities. He will join the team at DCLG under the
new Secretary for State for Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid who commented: “My priorities are to build more homes and increase homeownership, and devolve powers to local areas.” Barwell commented: “We are determined to
ensure that anyone who works hard and aspires to own their own home has the opportunity to do so. Since 2010, over 300,000 households have been
Gavin Barwell
helped into home ownership through Govern- ment-backed schemes.” He added: “The Housing and Planning Act will allow us to go even further, delivering our ambition to build a million homes.” The FMB’s Brian Berry added: “Local house-
builders are ready to play a much larger role in getting Britain building again, and we look for- ward to working with the new Minister in identifying how SMEs can help him achieve this.” Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) presi-
dent Phil Williams also welcomed the appointment while calling on Barwell to “value the critical role the planning profession has in providing solutions to the challenges and opportunities the recent vote to leave the EU has pulled into focus, and that the new Government has identified as priorities.” He welcomed Barwell’s “commitment to
working with councils, housing associations, developers, investors and local communities.”
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