---

Housing

My Lords, owing to the courtesy of the noble Lord, I am familiar with a little of the article by Simon Jenkins, who has been a consistent critic of government housebuilding policies. On reading it quickly, I do not think that there is much in it with which I agree, but, if the noble Lord will allow, I will come back to him with a proper response. The article states: "““The reality is that Britons squander their limited living space more than any country in Europe””." I do not agree with that, having seen how other countries in Europe build with enormous profligacy across enormous spaces. I am sure that I will find other things to disagree with as I read on. If we do not do anything more than we are doing at the moment in this country, by 2016—it may be 2026, but I will have to check—the ratio of house prices to earnings will be 10 to one. We cannot afford not to do anything about it. The noble Lord’s point about the importance of rented housing was absolutely correct. We need all sorts of different forms of housing. We must look seriously at that sector as well. I cannot give an answer to his question about RAF Northolt. I shall write to him and give him an idea of the identified sites of which we are aware.