Conservatives outline housing plans

Att the Conservative Part Conference in Manchester today ,Shadow housing minister Grant Shapps reiterated the Conservatives’ commitment to improving the energy efficiency of existing homes.

Shapps said that employers would be incentivised to subsidise "green makeovers" ofthe existing homes of their employees under the Tories’ Carbon Cooperation Plan.

He also pointed out that Britain needed more homes and told the conference that the Tories would match "pound for pound" the extra money a community received in council tax for six years when that community built more homes.

Mr Shapps said there were currently fewer homes built in Britain than at any time since the end of the Second World War. He pointed to "more repossessions, fewer first-time buyers and nearly twice as many families on social housing waiting lists".

He said: "You and I know that this country needs more homes - homes for our children and grandchildren. But we also know that the top-down Soviet style Labour approach to housing just isn't working...So we'll scrap the unelected regional assemblies, abolish the regional spatial strategies and dump the pointless Labour housing targets...Because if they haven't delivered by now, they never will."

Mr Shapps added: "Let's start by giving people something in return for development. When your community builds more homes, we'll match pound for pound the extra money that your area gets in council tax for six years...The more ambitious you are, the more money your neighbourhood will get."