Sherford: Unlocking the development of a new Devon community

Posted on May 22, 2013 by markprisk

In 2007, South Hams District Council adopted plans to build Sherford, a new market town between Dartmoor and the South Devon coast.

Proposals for this new town included thousands of new homes, four new schools, a town hall, a sports centre and a community park.

Yet despite widespread public support, this exciting new project faced years of delay.

That’s why today, I’m delighted to announce a £32million cash injection that will kick-start work to build this new community.

This Government loan will be used to support new roads to unlock an area to deliver the first new homes; the provision of gas, water and electricity to the site, and stringent ecological measures to protect local wildlife.

Overall, work on Sherford will deliver 5,500 much-needed new homes to the area and create 5,000 new local jobs.

Kick-starting large-scale sites

Sherford is the fourth large-scale site to receive Government support to get work started to deliver the homes and jobs this country needs, and brings the numbers of homes unlocked through our large-scale sites programme to 41,000.

Other sites include Cranbrook near Exeter, where we’ve unlocked plans for 6,300 homes; Fairfield near Milton Keynes where there are plans for 6,000 new properties, and the Eastern Quarry development in Ebbsfleet, where over 22,000 homes will be built.

But this is just the beginning: our interventions are helping to create thousands of jobs and pump billions of pounds of investment into local economies and I’m determined that this continues.

That’s why we’ve set aside considerable funding to assist more large-scale sites like Sherford, and over the coming months I look forward to announcing further deals that will go a considerable way towards getting Britain building.

Love Your Local Market

Posted on May 17, 2013 by markprisk

Today I visited my local market in Hertford as part of “Love Your Local Market 2013″, and was delighted earlier this week to be involved in the launch of this year’s campaign at Portobello Road in London – you can see more of that in the video below.

Love Your Local Market 2013 will involve over 650 markets across England, with over 3,000 special events. Running until 29 May, the event also gives budding entrepreneurs to have a go, with 3,000 free or subsidised stalls available for trading.

This builds on the success of the first Love Your Local Market fortnight last Summer, when over 2,000 traders took up a stall for the first time – 200 of whom are still trading today.

You can find your local market by visiting: http://loveyourlocalmarket.org.uk/

Aspiring tenants behind Right to Buy surge

Posted on May 16, 2013 by markprisk

This Government is determined to help more people buy their own home.

It’s why in this year’s Budget we made a promise: that whoever you are – whether a prospective first time buyer, an existing homeowner or a social tenant – if you work hard and want to get on, we will help you move up the property ladder.

So I’m delighted that new figures published today show the number of tenants taking up the Right to Buy their council home has more than doubled.

It’s evidence that tenants up and down the country are seizing the opportunity to get on the property ladder.

After we reinvigorated the scheme by raising the maximum discount to £75,000, a total of 5,942 homes were sold between April 2012 and April 2013, more than double the number sold in the previous year and the highest number of sales since 2007.

You can see the level of sales in your area on this map:

Yellow = Authorities with more sales in 2012-13 than 2011-12;
Purple = Same or less sales;
Grey = Non-stockists

Right to Buy getting better

But we still want more tenants to benefit. We’ve recently increased discounts in London to a maximum of £100,000, and we’re taking steps to ensure more tenants are eligible, by allowing people living in a council property to buy their home after three years rather than five.

Finding out more

I know there are people who are considering Right to Buy, but don’t know whether it is the right option for them.

So I encourage anyone in this position to find out more. There are several easy ways you can do this.

Visit our Right to Buy website. You can take the eligibility quiz and use the discounts calculator to see how Right to Buy could work for you.
Take a look at the Right to Buy Facebook page, and chat to other tenants for tips and advice.
Speak to your council. Your housing officers will be able to answer your questions, and many councils are holding special events about Right to Buy, like Basildon did in March.

Today’s figures only account for sales of council-owned properties, but thousands of social housing tenants could also benefit. If you were living in your home when it was transferred from the council to another landlord, like a housing association, you may have Preserved Right to Buy. Visit our website for more details.

After years of decline Right to Buy is starting to surge once again. Social tenants are voting with their feet, so I would urge any tenant who aspires to buy their own home to see if they could also benefit.

Giving young people a voice on Homelessness

Posted on May 14, 2013 by markprisk

This Government is determined to support young people who find themselves at risk of losing the roof over their head.

So I was pleased to have the opportunity today to join with colleagues from across Parliament, and listen to the views of young people who have had first hand experience of homelessness.

I heard from them about the root causes of youth homelessness, such as family breakdown, cultural differences, mental health issues or an unstable life in the care system.

They made some very interesting points, and one thing was crystal clear: that the help and support voluntary services and charities provide can be vital for getting young people’s lives back on track.

That’s why today I’ve announced an additional £210,000 for St Basil’s, one of the key, frontline organisations helping young people leaving care or unable to stay within their family unit to make the transition to adulthood.

The money will enable St Basil’s to help and train more young people, giving them the solid foundations they need for the future.

And it will also help to give these people a voice, supporting the future of the Homeless Young People’s Parliament, who will continue to work closely with Government on the issues that matter to them.

This cash is on top of a £1million investment for Crisis to help young and single homeless people find a safe and secure roof in privately rented accommodation.

Charities like Crisis and St Basils do vital work to guide some of the most vulnerable in our society from youth to adulthood, and I’m confident that the funding we’ve announced this week will help them continue to do so.

Countdown to Love Your Local Market

Posted on May 10, 2013 by markprisk

We’re just a few days away from the start of ‘Love your Local Market’ fortnight, with more than 2,000 special events planned in markets right across England.

We began this campaign last year, as part of our response to the Mary Portas’ High Street Review. Her recommendation to set up a day on which markets could offer stalls at a discounted rate has turned into a full fortnight, where budding entrepreneurs are encouraged to try trading in the marketplace and people are encouraged to visit their local markets.

This is just one of a number of things we’re doing to help communities revive their high street. To find out what else we’re doing, read my article in the Telegraph, here.

Supporting the self-build surge

Posted on May 4, 2013 by markprisk

Enthusiasm for self-build is growing.

Across the country more people are becoming aware that building your own home does not mean constructing a multi-million pound fantasy mansion.

A recent industry survey found that that one in eight people are expected to research undertaking a self-build project within the next 12 months, and around one in 50 expect to buy a building plot, obtain planning consent or start construction work during the coming year.

The industry is already sizeable with a lot of variety, accounting for one in ten of the homes we build, and worth £3billion a year to the economy.

Yet despite this, Britain lags behind the rest of the world – and that means many people who would like to live in a self-built home never get the opportunity to do so.

National Self-Build Week

This is not right.

It’s why the Government is supporting the industry’s aim to double in size over the coming years. So I’m delighted that today is the beginning of the first-ever National Self-Build Week.

Running until 12 May, this dedicated week of activity will offer a one-stop shop for anyone looking to learn more about building their own homes.

It’s been organised by the National Self-Build Association and Grand Designs Live, and to mark the launch today I attended Grand Designs at the Excel Centre with Kevin McCloud and Ted Stevens from the Association.

We answered questions on a whole variety of issues affecting self-build, from raising cash to finding the land.

Support for self build

It was a good opportunity to set out how the Government is supporting aspiring self builders.

This includes:

working with the self-build industry to launch a Self-Build Portal, with information for those wanting to build;
making £44million available to help communities and individual self-builders get their projects off the ground; and
ensuring councils consider the needs of self-builders when planning the development of their area.

Tax relief

At the same time we’re considering proposals that would slash costs for self-builders.

Under these proposals self-builders would be given relief from paying the Community Infrastructure Levy, a charge levied by councils on new buildings over a certain size, potentially saving thousands of pounds in charges.

It shows the Government is serious about helping aspiring self-builders,so more people will now have opportunity to turn their plans into reality.

First couple receive the keys to their new home through Help to Buy

Posted on April 30, 2013 by markprisk

The Chancellor put housing at the heart of this year’s Budget – a £4.5 billion package to help homebuyers and build thousands of new homes.

So I’m delighted that, just five weeks later, the first buyers are moving into their new home through the Help to Buy scheme.

First time buyers Nikolai and Catherine will receive the keys to their new Taylor Wimpey home today. Through the scheme the couple have received a Government loan of 20 per cent, which meant that they only needed to put down a five per cent deposit and obtained a 75 per cent loan-to-value mortgage. You can see more of their story here.

Nikolai and Catherine have bought through Help to Buy

A former Queens Guardsman and a nurse, Nikolai and Catherine are relocating from Newcastle in Northern Ireland to Liverpool, and will now benefit from lower monthly payments while they progress their careers.

We want to help even more people through the scheme, and with over 300 housebuilders now signed up to Help to Buy, I’m confident that over the coming months we’ll see many thousands more achieve their dream of owning a home.

Homelessness help is a year-round concern

Posted on April 24, 2013 by markprisk

It seems that this long winter is finally coming to an end, and not before time.

But despite the recent departure of dreary days, there are some cold weather concerns that shouldn’t be set aside come spring.

For many, homelessness and rough sleeping are something to worry about when winter bites, the bitter cold bringing home the reality of a night on the streets.

But the truth is, this is a year round problem; one that must not be forgotten.

That’s why today I’m meeting with my colleagues across Government to discuss the work we’re doing to ensure that this country’s homelessness safety net remains one of the strongest in the world.

And it’s why this Government has made a £20 million investment to ensure that no-one should ever have to face a second night on the streets.

Funding an innovative future

Today, I’ve opened the final round of bidding for a share of this Homelessness Transition Fund, which supports innovative new ways of preventing and tackling rough sleeping, including the introduction of the No Second Night Out principle across the country.

To date the Homelessness Transition Fund has helped projects across the country reach nearly 12,000 people, half of which were new rough sleepers prevented from spending a second night on the street.

The voluntary sector, social enterprises and homelessness charities can apply for the final £3.5 million instalment of the Fund, and a further £500,000 will be available to help protect the most essential services for single homeless people.

We want to ensure that these vital services for some of our most vulnerable remain for years to come. So this final year of funding is designed particularly to help maintain existing support and establish sustainable services that can provide long-term solutions to homelessness.

This is a chance for the most innovative organisations to make their mark, and I hope to see applications come in from right across the country.

Securing the right protection for tenants and landlords

Posted on April 19, 2013 by markprisk

The private rented sector has been growing in size and popularity for many years – a testament to its vital importance for the housing market.

We’re now building on this success with a major Budget package to expand the supply of new homes. But we’re also determined to ensure that people get a fair deal throughout their tenancy, and particularly from their lettings agent.

So this Government is taking steps to protect landlords and tenants from unscrupulous letting agents.

For too long a small minority of dodgy letting agents have delivered an unacceptably poor service to tenants and landlords, damaging the reputation of an entire industry.

There are already consumer protection laws for tenants, but there’s also growing evidence that concerns and complaints about letting agents are not being properly addressed.

This includes a recent report from the OfT about the performance of letting agents, and a survey by Which? that found one in five tenants and one in six landlords were dissatisfied with the service they received.

New redress scheme for tenants and landlords

That’s why on Tuesday we revealed plans to require anyone wanting to operate as a letting agent to belong to an approved redress scheme.

Belonging to a redress scheme, a central recommendation from the OfT, will give a clear route for landlords and tenants to pursue complaints if they don’t get the service they deserve, and weed out the cowboys and rogue operators that give letting agents a bad name.

Redress, not red tape

Our plans overturned an amendment to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, which would have made letting and managing agents subject to the Estate Agents Act 1979.

We believe that this proposal for full regulation, by Baroness Hayter, was unclear and would have created an imprecise and clumsy tool that created problems rather than solving them.

Tenants and landlords would not have a straightforward route to address poor service, and it would impose a significant regulatory burden that would be passed across to tenants and leaseholders, and reduce innovation and competition within the industry.

With around 60 per cent of all letting agents already belonging to a redress scheme, our proposals should be a simple requirement for the industry to meet.

Busting myths about the private rented sector

So we’re bringing in new rules, but I also want tenants to be aware of existing legal protections they can use to get the service they deserve.

A common myth is that there are currently no laws protecting tenants from unscrupulous letting agents

There are, and they’re working.

Take for example the recent case in Oxford where a letting agent faced a bill of over £300,000 in fines and legal costs after failing to return tenants’ deposits, letting out properties without consent and not passing on rent to landlords.

Our new plans will bolster these protections, ensuring tenants receive a good service but without strangling the private rented sector in red tape.