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Affordable Housing

I am afraid that the right hon. Gentleman’s words accurately describe the Government’s policy, because he rightly drew attention to increased resistance to development in some areas. Whatever measure of public opinion we use, resistance to new housing development has grown since the Conservatives were in office. As I pointed out, although there might have been flaws with past policy, they have increased and worsened under the Government. Much as he tries to do so, the right hon. Gentleman cannot rewrite history, or eat his own words. The cap fits the Ministers whom he is compelled, however reluctantly, to support. If we are to build an enduring consensus on the housing supply, we must consider four factors that have increased resistance. People are concerned about the lack of infrastructure for new housing development; they are concerned, as the right hon. Gentleman pointed out, about the aesthetic quality of new development; they are concerned about the environmental impact of new development; and they are concerned, too, that new development will be accompanied by additional costs, but not additional benefits. On infrastructure, proposals have been introduced for a planning gain supplement. I hope that the Minister will enlighten us and explain how benefits from the PGS will be split. Will the PGS, as Kate Barker suggested, be an entirely hypothecated tax so that benefits will go to the communities where new developments are built? A simple yes or no will suffice, because local communities want a guarantee that they will receive the cash that they need. I echo the words of the right hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich, and of the Prince of Wales, who pointed out we can overcome resistance with improved design and by working with communities. The Prince of Wales’s affordable rural housing initiative has resulted in successful housing developments of the highest quality that are not resisted but welcomed by communities. What is the Minister doing to improve design quality? As for the environment, yesterday the Chancellor discussed his proposal to exempt new carbon-zero homes from stamp duty, but on last night’s edition of ““Newsnight”” the Chief Secretary to the Treasury said that fewer than two dozen homes, on one development, meet that criterion. [Interruption.] The new incentive will be removed, the hon. Member for Eltham (Clive Efford) will be interested to know, after just three years. Will the Minister use her formidable skills of persuasion to bend Treasury Ministers to her will to ensure that we apply genuinely environmentally friendly taxation and regulation to new housing development? Finally, on the question of incentivising house building and working with local communities to ensure that they welcome the house building that many enlightened civic leaders accept is necessary, I hope that the Minister will add her voice to those calling for publication of the much-delayed Lyons review, so that we can discover what appropriate local government finance incentives we can use to encourage house building. Sir Michael Lyons has laboured long in the vineyard, but yesterday, I am afraid, the Chancellor told us that we would have to wait another few months before his report was published. Why on earth the Government are scared of the subject of local government finance, I do not have the faintest idea, but I look forward to hearing from the Minister.