Shropshire Star

Number of homes being built in Shropshire 'well below target'

An organisation set up to protect the Shropshire's countryside has said numbers of homes being built is "well below target".

Published

The Shropshire Campaign to Protect Rural England has responded to news that the Government plans to build one million homes in the next five years.

Sarah Jameson, of CPRE Shropshire, said: "The pattern in Shropshire over recent years is for house building numbers falling well below target – by the sound of it this pattern is being repeated across most of the country.

"It is currently being claimed that builders have a shortage of skilled labour which is preventing them from building at a faster rate.

"It could be that they are limiting their rate of build because they cannot sell completed houses as fast as they would like to."

On Monday, it was revealed the Government plans to build one million new homes by the end of this Parliament to meet a national shortfall of houses.

National Housing Federation figures released showed less than 460,000 homes were constructed between 2011 and 2014 – while forecasts show a total of 974,000 homes were needed.

Data also showed that the pace of new house building is 32 per cent below its peak level, which was in 2007 and that it has fallen at its steepest rate for three years in the latest quarter.

But both Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Councils have said they are on track to provide enough housing to meet demand.

Ms Jameson said that there is some thought demand will actually be lower than the forecast figures.

She said: "There is, however, some evidence from recently released government figures that medium term housing targets are too high and that the demand will be lower than the figures currently being catered for."

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.