James Brokenshire
has been appointed as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and
Local Government.
On taking up his
appointment, he renewed the Government's pledge to "get Britain building
the homes our country needs so everyone can afford a place to call their
own".
He also added:
"One of my top priorities is going to be ensuring everyone affected by the
Grenfell Tower fire gets the support they need and we learn lessons from the
tragedy so something like this can never happen again.
"As the son of
a former chief executive of a council local government is in the blood for me.
So I look forward to working with councils across the country by supporting
them to deliver quality public services and build strong integrated communities."
RIBA
President Ben Derbyshire said: "In recent months the Ministry has
increased its focus on design and build quality and we hope this agenda will
continue to be prioritised by Mr Brokenshire.
"Only
last week, MHCLG ministers confirmed, at their Housing Quality Conference, that
driving up standards in design and build quality is key to tackling the housing
crisis and meeting supply targets. We stand ready to support this effort at
RIBA. We also need to see greater investment in social housing, more radical
moves to provide councils greater powers to build, and fresh thinking on how
infrastructure can be used to create better communities.
"We
also look forward to working with Sajid Javid MP as the new Home Secretary. The
RIBA’s 2018 Brexit survey showed that building confidence in the post-Brexit
immigration system is a top concern for many architects, particularly talented
EU citizens who currently run and work in practices across the UK. We will
continue to make the case for a flexible, diverse architecture sector to the
Home Office, including reforms to the visa system and ensuring that the mutual
recognition of architects’ professional qualifications with the EU is retained
post-Brexit.”
Brian Berry, Chief
Executive of the FMB, saidchanges come at a crucial time for the sector.
"We hope that Brokenshire will build on Javid’s good work, both in terms
of raising the profile of housing as an issue at Cabinet level, and
implementing some sound policies aimed at tackling the housing shortage,"
he added.
"In particular,
we are keen to work with the new Secretary of State to unleash the capacity of
small local house builders. Last year’s Housing White Paper and the November
Budget Statement that followed have given us a blueprint for change but now we
need to get on and do it. We stand ready to help Brokenshire deliver the
300,000 new homes per year needed in England alone.”
Richard Beresford,
chief executive of the NFB, also stated the case for SMEs. “SMEs have a crucial
role in building communities and place-making across all regions of the
UK," he said. "SMEs have a unique understanding of their local
communities and smaller development face less opposition.
“Carillion has,
hopefully, taught us not to put too much faith in the market’s larger players
delivering on public aspirations. A more diverse market that encourages SME
participation is key to fixing the housing crisis.”
With the share of
SME house builders witnessing an 80% decline over the last three decades, the
number of home completions went down from 242,360 in 1988-89 to 178,450 in
2016-17.
