Philip Dunne MP: Working For You

This Plan, alongside the Local Neighbourhood Plan for Much Wenlock, will then become the over-arching planning document for the county for at least the next five years, putting an end to the prospects for speculative planning applications ?succeeding. This will provide much-needed certainty and stability to the planning process in Shropshire, since six separate planning policies were brought together when the county, borough and district councils were combined in 2009. The county's population is projected to increase from 306,100 people at the 2011 census to 338,000 in 2031 so we clearly need more homes for local families now and in the near future. Across the country successive governments have not built enough to meet the needs of our growing and ageing population. But now this Government is acting to get Britain building again. The large sites infrastructure programme is already accelerating house building across the country and will unlock construction of over 200,000 homes by 2020. Pledge We have also introduced the £1.8 billion Get Britain Building, Growing Places and Local Infrastructure Fund schemes which are unlocking stalled housing sites. Surplus public sector land has been identified to deliver an extra 250,000 new homes. The Housing Bill now proceeding through Parliament aims to deliver 200,000 new starter homes for people under 40, to meet a manifesto pledge. Our Help to Buy schemes are helping local people get an affordable mortgage and buy their own home with only a five per cent deposit. So far almost 94,000 families in England have used Help to Buy, with almost 80 per cent being first time buyers. Help to Buy ISAs commence from the beginning of next month, under which those saving for their first home can secure a maximum government bonus of £3,000 on £12,000 of savings. While there are now nearly 800,000 more homes in England than in 2009 and the number of first time buyers is at its highest level since 2007 and rising, the combination of SAMDev in Shropshire and the Housing Bill nationally should now start to deliver the much-needed homes we need in the county so more families can achieve their dream. By Philip Dunne MP