Cable calls for building of extra 100,000 homes a year

Cable said that an extra 100,000 houses would need to be built each year to meet housing demands. He said it would be "one big step" for the Government to meet commitments made in the recently-announced housing package to get more houses built and called for more spending power in the economy.

"The numbers of houses completed are currently the lowest in peacetime since the 1920s," Cable said. "Millions of families are in housing need. There is distress in the construction industry. The private market will only heal slowly. Because mortgages are scarce. What we need is an aggressive programme of house building by housing associations and local councils, with Government providing guarantees so they can build, in large numbers, now. We need an extra 100,000 houses a year to meet demand. That would create half a million new jobs."

Cable said that the Government will not let the "country get stuck on a downward escalator where slow or no growth means bigger deficits leading to more cuts and even slower growth".

Cable also announced plans to establish a new business bank which will be able to expand lending to manufacturers, exporters and high growth companies.

"I am working with the Chancellor to develop a new institution that will combine a billion pounds of new government capital with a larger private sector contribution. This will apply leverage through guarantees to support up to ten billion pounds of finance to small and mid-sized business - a significant portion of all the lending currently available," Cable said.

“Whilst Mr Cable’s 'call to arms' to local authorities and housing associations is to be welcomed, in reality, the vast majority of housing in the UK will be delivered by private sector housebuilders, either on their own, or in partnership with the public sector," said Iain Gilbey, planning expert at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com.

"Funding remains the biggest hurdle to delivery, but the Coalition Government needs to make good its promises to speed up the local planning and appeal systems, to ensure that they do not become the logjam to delivery. It would be helpful for the various initiatives announced on 6 September, not least the right of appeal on “unviable” section 106 sites, to be accelerated,” he said.

Earlier this month the Government announced its major housing package intended to boost house building and deliver up to 70,000 new homes. This followed initiatives to support house building such as the £570 million Get Britain Building Fund announced in December 2011 and aimed at bringing forward the delivery of 16,000 new homes.