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MPs criticise 'build now, worry later' approach

MPs criticise 'build now, worry later' approach

Friday, 31 March 2006 12:00 AM

The government has been accused of taking a 'build now, worry later' approach to the construction of 200,000 new homes in the south-east over the next ten years.

Ministers have been using the need to build new homes as a mandate to sweep aside environmental concerns, says a cross-party group of MPs.

They are worried that the homes will be built without sufficient standards of energy and water efficiency - the latter particularly important in light of the drought gripping the south-east this year.

And they are "deeply concerned" by the decision to delay discussions on how to fund necessary infrastructure developments until 2007.

Tim Yeo, chairman of the environmental audit committee which produced the report, said the committee accepted the need to build new homes, but "we are concerned that consideration of the environmental impacts of these new communities ranks below a significant number of other economic and social factors."

Chief among the committee's fears is the government's seeming willingness to build new homes first and then worry later about how the supporting infrastructure can be created.

There is particular concern over the impact on the water infrastructure of an additional 200,000 homes, especially with the effects of climate change becoming more severe.

"What we find reprehensible is the clear signal from government that it really does not matter that these homes are going to be built before supporting infrastructure is in place," the committee says in its report.

"And we reject the implication that the people for whom these new communities are intended will be so grateful to have a home that they will be prepared to put up with substandard communities rather than sustainable communities."

The MPs welcome the decision to set minimum standards of energy and water efficiency, but find it "deeply worrying" that there is "no appetite within the ODPM (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister) to take on the building sector" and guarantee that these standards are enforced.

"Reliance on developers to gradually begin to 'do the right thing' we believe is misplaced and is symptomatic not only of ODPM's reluctance to take on the building sector but also of a fundamental lack of urgency in the government's approach to ensuring that new housing and new communities are truly sustainable," Mr Yeo added.

MPs also describe the decision to delay a discussion on how to fund infrastructure until the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review as a "massive planning failure".

To help drive up environmental standards they recommend making VAT rules more favourable for new build and refurbished homes built to high environmental standards, as well as urging the government to consider reducing stamp duty and council tax for such homes.