黑洞社区

Ambitions to build more homes must focus on more than just the number being built and should consider the needs of the people they were being built for, secretary of state for housing James Brokenshire told an industry conference yesterday.

Speaking at the Create Communities event in London, Brokenshire (pictured) said there ought to be as much focus on the communities which the new homes were being built for as the numbers of units being constructed.

鈥淨uestions around the quality and design of the new homes we build will become more important. Housing can鈥檛 just be a numbers game,鈥� he added.

The minister also told the conference he was 鈥渁ppalled鈥� at the levels of homelessness across the UK and called on local authorities 鈥渢o build a new generation of council homes鈥�.

The recent lifting of the borrowing cap would 鈥渁llow local authorities to fulfil the potential that is clearly there and we should analyse how we can unlock the potential to create more joint ventures with housing associations and others鈥�, he added.

Pointing to the 黑洞社区 Beautiful commission he established last year, headed up by philosopher Roger Scruton, Brokenshire said the move was 鈥減robably the most controversial but important thing I鈥檝e done as a minister鈥�.

Acknowledging that the commission had attracted a lot of debate, Brokenshire said he 鈥渨anted those responsible for building to understand that popular consent matters鈥�.

While Scruton declined to appoint any architects as commissioners, Brokenshire said he was still supportive of the role such individuals played in developments, although he wanted more consideration given to what local people felt about a proposed scheme in their neighbourhood.