Housing and Planning Bill

Viscount Eccles Excerpts

Tuesday 26th January 2016 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Eccles (Con)]

My Lords, perhaps I should start by declaring a non-party interest. I live in a rented house in north Yorkshire. I have lived in the house for 46 years, and the lease expires when I am 107. So I am one Member of the House who is not hooked on ownership.

Listening to this debate, one thing is absolutely clear. We are all agreed that there is a massive failure in the housing market, that we are building approximately half the number of new homes a year that we need and that the increase in the number of households is likely to continue, for one reason or another.

In those circumstances, there is no room for ideology or a single solution. It should not be a party political matter; we need a big tent in which everyone who has a contribution to make can make it, in order to get supply a great deal nearer to demand. How many of the problems that we have been discussing today would solve themselves if supply was much closer to demand?

In the time remaining I want to concentrate on starter homes, the seven clauses of Part 1 and the scheme that is in them. It illustrates a fundamental lack of thinking and decision-making in this very difficult situation. The scheme provides a 20% subsidy, effectively, which will of course affect the whole market for owner-occupied houses, and many points have been made about that. It will affect all the players in the market.

In our proceedings so far, the effect of that subsidy has been approached very cautiously. In Committee at the other end, lots of doubts were expressed about what would be the unintended consequences of supplying starter homes on the very sketchy terms set out in the first seven clauses. Indeed, I think it would be fair to say that the conclusion of the other end was that the House of Lords has lots to do to clarify the position that might emerge from those seven clauses. They are classically a framework. Indeed, without three of the powers being described in draft—restrictions on sale and letting, the meaning of “first-time buyer” and the starter home requirement—it is very difficult to come to any judgment about the possible success or otherwise of the scheme.

This is, of course, not the end. There are six more powers to lay statutory instruments, some of them amendments for the future and some of them powers that will never be used. In addition, the Secretary of State has a duty to lay down guidelines. Finally, he has a power of direction. When the Delegated Powers Committee reports, I wonder whether this will be a record: nine powers, guidelines and a direction in seven clauses. As an ex-member of the Delegated Powers Committee, I am afraid this implies to me that the scheme has not been thoroughly thought through. This is going to make it very difficult for this House to come to a conclusion about the likely success or otherwise of this new form of home ownership, which seems—as has been said many times this afternoon—to have all sorts of onward effects on the rest of housing tenure which may not have been sufficiently thought through. I therefore hope that my noble friend the Minister will assure us tonight that we are going to know a great deal more about the starter home scheme than we know at present before we complete the proceedings on the Bill.