PM Theresa May has met with housing associations, housing developers, and local government to discuss plans on how to increase housing supply
A number of key figures from the housing industry were in attendance, as well as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Sajid Javid, and Alok Sharma, minister of state for housing and planning.
Other attendees included:
- Melanie Dawes, permanent secretary of the Department for Communities and Local Government
- Paul Hackett, chair of g15, CEO of Optivo
- Chris Carr, Carr & Carr
- Muhammad A Bhatti, managing director of Apex Airspace
- Nigel Hugill, chief executive of Urban & Civic PLC
- Mark Lloyd, chief executive of Local Government Association
- Robert Luck, chief executive of Top Hat
- David Montague, chief executive of London & Quadrant Housing Trust
- Peter Andrew, deputy chairman of Home Builders Federation
- David Orr, chief executive of National Housing Federation
- Peter Redfern, CEO of Taylor Wimpey
- David Thomas, CEO of Barratt Developments
- Nigel Wilson, chief executive of Legal & General
- Lord Porter of Spalding CBE, chair of the Local Government Association
- Terrie Alafat, chief executive of Chartered Institute of Housing
- Peter Connolly, chief executive of Igloo
- Angus Dodd, chief executive of Quintain
- Tracy Harrison, deputy chief executive of Northern Housing Consortium
- Josh Murray, group director of Corporate Affairs at Laing O’Rourke
According to a Downing Street spokesperson, at the meeting, May emphasised the government’s ambition to tackle the housing industry challenges facing the UK today.
“For too many people, home ownership has moved increasingly out of reach, and people are finding themselves spending longer in insecure private rented accommodation that is becoming ever more expensive,” said the spokesperson.
May also summarised her plans on how to increase housing supply, indicating that developers – large and small – local authorities and housing associations all needed to step up and play their part.
Other issues discussed included making the most of modern methods of construction, having the skilled workers the industry needed, helping SME enterprises grow and making sure planning permissions granted by councils were delivered into new homes.
“Those in attendance also had an opportunity to set out their ideas and commitments, as well as the actions needed to remove the barriers they were facing in building new homes,” added the spokesperson.
“They also discussed some of the recent measures taken by government, including enabling 130,000 more families to get on the housing ladder through the £10bn Help to Buy scheme and an additional £2bn for affordable housing.
“It was a positive and collaborative meeting which needs to signal a step change in housebuilding if we are to build a country that truly works for everyone.”
