From This Is Somerset:
Only 113,000 homes will be built in 2009-10, the lowest figure since 1923.
PS, that's the figure for the whole country, not just Somerset.
Import the Third World
1 hour ago
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
Tories to fulfil election manifesto pledge: shock
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9 comments:
Didn't 2009-10 finish before the election?
BE, for sure - Caroline Spelman send round a letter over a year ago telling local councils that the minute the Tories got in, they'd shut down house building and cancel all new contracts, and councils and house builders responded accordingly.
Bloody hell.
Ah yes all the Evil Nimbyist Tories' fault and nothing to do with the boom turning to bust, the financial crisis and ensuing reduction in both demand and ability to supply. Spot on. Really, spot on.
BE, it costs about £75,000 to knock up a nice three-bed semi. Do you not think that there'd be plenty of demand at that price level?
PS, during the 1930s we were building over 300,000 houses a year.
And how much does a plot of developable land cost? I am not saying that there aren't problems with the planning system, I am saying that the Tories' circular did not trigger the collapse in the housing market.
BE, land costs nothing, planning permission costs nothing. But plots of land are worth a lot. It's to do with artifical and natural scarcity. But this is a side issue.
1. The Tories made it quite clear that once they were in charge that new construction would be frowned on. On Planet Tory, new construction is A Bad Thing. Councils responded accordingly. If you want to exonerate them from the 2009-10 stat's, feel free to do so and we can revisit this in a year's time.
2. Unless you think that the current recession is worse than the 1930s depression, that is also irrelevant as the statistics I linked to above show. The number of new cars purchased has fallen slightly, but it has not absolutely collapsed, for example.
"planning permission costs nothing"
That's not true though is it, the planning application has an arbitrary figure attached to it in the region of £100, the big developers who want planning on big patches of previously undeveloped land obviously have to bribe the planning officials so it costs them but the unearned gains of course massively outweigh paying for Mr. Fat Planners hookers.
SW, in practice, getting planning is hugely expensive, because council officials have to be bribed; local NIMBYs have to be fought off in endless rounds of appeals; there's the affordable housing the developer has to sell at a loss and so on.
But there's no reason in principle why it should cost more than £100.
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