Housebuilding

Lord Green of Deddington Excerpts

Tuesday 26th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, achieving the highest housebuilding target in over 30 years is a credible achievement. There is no doubt that the 300,000 target will be stretching, particularly in the light of the national Covid emergency. We will rely on councils to build; we have released the constraints on local authority finance and the ability to borrow, as well as providing a huge £12.2 billion programme for affordable house- building.

[Lord Green of Deddington (CB) [V]]

My Lords, these questions have been focused entirely on the supply of housing, but the future demand for housing is surely a key aspect. Is the Minister aware of the latest ONS household projections for England? They show that, over the next 20 years, just over half the extra homes needed for our projected population growth will be the result of immigration; that is, nearly 300 new homes every day. Surely we need action on demand as well as on supply.

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, it is important that we think about both the demand and the supply of homes, but it is also important that we attract global talent to this country. It is about getting that right—but I am not the Minister for immigration policy.