Housing needs vs myths

After the election, the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) will launch a campaign to de-bunk the myths it claims have grown up around housing. This was revealed on 25 March by Shaun Spiers, chief executive of the CPRE at a public meeting at Cardinal Newman School Luton.

The myths, say CPRE, is that we need lots of houses yet for over 20 years the UK has been building homes at a greater rate than our population growth. CPRE insist this effect has not been perceived because of such things as the rise in second home ownership (not so much an issue around here as in the Cotswolds and south-west England, I expect).

CPRE is accused by some as “not taking an holistic view”. Councils have a duty to co-operate with London on providing housing needs: it stretches to neighbouring councils of those neighbouring London, so Bedfordshire is affected. If you Google the 'Bedford 51' letter, you'll see it sets a backdrop for the working relationship between Boris's GLA and other councils on housing.

The important thing is for us not to demonise sofa surfers or young people under 30 still living with Mum and Dad. And for us semi-rural types to welcome the town and city dwellers who aspire to move to semi-rural locations to bring up a family while commuting to work in London or other towns and cities. (I know that's what my husband and I did for seven years before we switched, me to a job in Bedford and Chris to being self-employed.)

It shouldn't stop us scrutinising what CBC is doing, or fighting hard to keep our green spaces and Green Belt gems, but I hope this wider understanding will help us achieve a balanced tone. At the meeting, someone remarked how brownfield development has made London a better place to live and work in, so concluded “this can happen in Bedfordshire too”. But can it? How much previously built on land in need of re-development is owned by the public sector and how much by the private sector? And is the cost in time and money of compulsory purchase prohibitive? Is there a will to find the way to do it?

Or will the eight national house-building companies continue to insist on controlled release of new homes for sale, to ensure prices remain buoyant, so undermining the public sector's ambitions?

I urged CPRE to relaunch their inter-active website tool from 2014 whereby people could send in photos and descriptions of places near where they lived that were abandoned and ripe for re-development. These varied in size from small plots in Hitchin and Shefford to multi-acre sites within Vauxhall's complex in Luton. Of course, ideally local councils would do this as part of their work to engage with their residents, but there were no Tory members of CBC to hear that or indeed any other suggestion.

What is your view or experience? Please let Janet Nunn know by comment on this blog, by email to janet.nunn@ntlworld.co.uk or by writing to 113 Manor Road, Barton-le-Clay, Bedford MK45 4NS