21 September 2007
Social landlords must help to build a national consensus over the need for more house building by raising environmental standards on new estates, housing minister Yvette Cooper said this week.
Speaking at the National Housing Federation's annual conference in Birmingham on September 19, Cooper told housing association chiefs that there was still 'immense hostility' to development in some areas, although there were fewer voices opposing extra homes than in the past. At the same time, some local authorities were 'burying their heads in the sand', rather than providing further land for development.
Urging registered social landlords to sign up to the government's 2016 zero carbon commitment, under which all new homes must be carbon neutral within ten years, Cooper said cuts in carbon emissions to make new homes more environmentally friendly would be the key to winning over doubters.
'It's only by building a national consensus for the need for new housing that we can make changes to communities,' she told delegates.
Cooper added that she had been encouraged by the response of RSLs, councils and developers to the eco-towns scheme, which was launched in the summer by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
But she said that she remained concerned the construction industry was not geared up to meet long-term demand for new homes. 'We need housing associations to help us in an extremely ambitious programme,' she added.
Cooper also announced that the new homes agency, due to replace the Housing Corporation and English Partnerships within two years, will be called the Homes and Communities Agency. The new organisation had been named Communities England until Brown ordered a rethink, but she said there would be no further changes.
The minister also backed RSL plans to build more homes for sale — providing they are part of mixed developments. 'We can't go back to the housing apartheid that once existed,' she warned.
PFsep2007
