黑洞社区

A young man in a hurry

As we move into the thick of party conference season, it鈥檚 clear that housing policy will become a strong talking point moving towards the general election and will be designated a healthy word count in forthcoming election manifestos. It鈥檚 therefore an interesting time to keep track of the candidates that could take on the housing and building regulation baton, should there be a personnel shift at the top. In February 2010, a few months ahead of the election of the coalition government, 黑洞社区 met Grant Shapps, the then shadow housing minister, to discuss his plans should he become a fully fledged minister (as he subsequently did). Addressing the industry, Shapps said at the time: 鈥淲e recognise that you guys have had a tough time. I can鈥檛 remember a time when a party in opposition was offering the building world so much, for so little in return.鈥� The feature honed in on Shapps鈥� plans to do away with regional housing targets and allow councils to choose how many homes they build. As he explained: 鈥淚t seems to me we鈥檝e had a situation whereby planning鈥檚 been difficult to obtain and it鈥檚 been the locals who are stopping you. We鈥檙e proposing a situation whereby planning鈥檚 easier to obtain because we鈥檝e helped get the locals on side.鈥�