To what extent and why is the demand for housing in Britain growing?

The extent of the demand for housing is Britain needs to build 60% more houses a year for the next 14 years if the country is to avoid a housing crisis. If the pace of building is not raised, says the social research charity, there will be a gap of 1.1m homes within 20 years. The government wants to see 60% of new homes built on recycled Brownfield land. Even if that target is met. 84,000 homes a year will still have to be built on Greenfield sites to satisfy demand. Two-thirds of the total number of new homes will have to be built in the southeast. An economic and social crisis is possible. Homelessness and overcrowding will rise if demand for housing cannot be met. Prices will rocket, pushing key workers such as nurses and teachers still further out of the housing market, and probably pricing them out of the southeast. There will still be continuing problems of low demand for housing in parts of the north and Midlands. In the southeast they are proposing that 39’000 homes are going to be built annually that begun in 2000 and will end at the end of the year 2005.

2. Through the building of thousands of homes along the green land will cut down on the land between the inner city and the commuting dormitory settlement. This would mean that it would be almost the extension onto the city and there would be no the commuting dormitory settlement. If the Green land were to be built it would rid the area totally of rural land and the feel of a countryside environment to a complete urbanised environment. There would be a lack of peace and quiet that is associated with the rural areas. There are bans on the building on prime farmland to stop many homes being built on the green land so that villages are kept a distance away from the outer suburbs of a city. An example of this is Nettleham where the council have stated that no more homes can be built between this village and the city of Lincoln. This is to stop the village becoming more of an urbanised settlement or part of the suburbs of the city. Even though this is felt already as the city is very close for comfort. These new developments could easily adversely affect the lifestyle of the people living in these areas. Therefore most people would strongly oppose the decision for thousands of homes to be built.

Alternatives for the new developments include the use of the Brownfield sites as these have already have building built on them previously. These may take more to clear and involve more money to develop but the government are backing the use of Brownfield sites to redevelop in order to prevent the loss of the rural land and the countryside that there is left. It is better to use the Brownfield sites, as they are usually closer to the CBD therefore the appeal to younger people, that fall into the group of high earners, may be more attracted to the area. They will also have a higher money threshold so money will not be an object to them. This would also relieve congestion on the roads and transport infrastructure generally. Many of the younger generations will want to be in an environment of nightlife, entertainment and places to go out at night and socialise and building on these Brownfield sites would be more suited to them. It is also easier to gain planning permission for a Brownfield site rather than the Greenfield sites as they have already been built on previously. Eventually the Greenfield sites will have to be used as the Brownfield sites will have all been used up. There could some of the Greenfield sites used so that the greenbelt is slightly made smaller but so there is still some rural land.