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Tackling 'garden grabbing' will not help housing supply, warns FMB
10/06/10
Edited by Andy Jowett. The government's move to end "garden grabbing" by developers will do nothing to address the urgent need to deliver more affordable housing, the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has said.
Decentralisation minister Greg Clark announced yesterday (9th June) that gardens would be taken out of the brownfield land category in order to prevent the construction of homes that rob communities of "green breathing space".
He added that between 1997 and 2008, the proportion of new homes built on previously residential land such as back yards had risen from ten per cent to 25 per cent.
FMB director of external affairs Brian Berry said it was "very disappointing" that the coalition has prioritised garden grabbing over increasing the supply of accommodation for the 4.5 million people currently on the waiting list for housing.
"With a rising population and house building at its lowest level since 1923, the government needs to be thinking about increasing the supply of housing rather than decreasing it," he added.
