Former Construction Minister Mark Prisk, who is an MP for Hertford and Stortford, has been in his current post since the election two years ago. Prisk replaces Grant Shapps as Housing Minister.
Prisk has joined the Department for Communities and Local Government along with a number of other new ministers following the Prime Minister's reorganisation of the Cabinet.
Leicestershire MP Nick Bowles has been appointed as the new Planning Minister, replacing Greg Clark. Bowles was formerly the director of think tank Policy Exchange and a former Westminster Councillor. Liberal Democrat MP Don Foster has been appointed as the new Communities Minister, replacing Andrew Stunell.
The appointment of Prisk has been welcomed by the house building industry but he has been warned by the Home Builders Federation (HBF) that he needs to act quickly to tackle the acute housing crisis, according to a HBFstatement.
HBF urged the new minister to take steps to find ways of addressing the main constraints on building, which include a severe lack of mortgage and development finance and a regulatory cost burden which is preventing development across the country, in its statement.
“We welcome Mark Prisk to the role. Whilst he has an unenviable in-tray, it is clear that he understands the scale of the job in front of him with his background in the sector," said Stewart Basely, executive chairman of HBF.
“We hope he will offer some radical ideas to transform the current housing and planning systems and tackle the housing crisis, providing economic growth and jobs, and strengthening communities across the country," he said."In his previous role he undertook some positive work to reduce regulation, a commitment his Government has also made with regards to housing and something we hope he will now deliver on."
“We developed an extremely close working relationship with Grant Shapps and look forward to doing the same with him and together tackling the issues with which we are faced," he said.
“We’ve watched with interest Mark Prisk’s work at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and welcome him to his new role in housing," said Mark Henderson, the chief executive of Home Group, UK provider of affordable and supported housing. “He comes into the role at a challenging time. Demand for social housing is at a high, new starts are at a low and the funding of the sector continues to be uncertain."
“There is no single answer to the challenges facing housing. A new minister brings with it the opportunity for fresh innovative thinking. Continuing as we are is not an option" he said.
In addition to the above appointments, Patrick McLoughlin has replaced Justine Greening as Transport Minister. McLoughlin is former chief whip and previously served in the Ministry of Transport under Margaret Thatcher. During her time as minister Justine Greening has been opposed to Heathrow's expansion. The appointment of McLoughlin has given rise to speculations that the Government may be heading for a U-turn on the expansion.
"We've all been elected on a manifesto to stop Heathrow expansion and to say no to a third runway," said Boris Johnson, The Mayor of London, according to the Evening Standard."It may be, obviously, that the reshuffle had absolutely nothing to do with Heathrow and I'm perfectly prepared to accept that if the Government will now end the uncertainty and rule out a third runway both now and in the future."
In another appointment under the Cabinet reshuffle, chief executive of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paul Deighton has been appointed Minister for Infrastructure and Economic Delivery. Part of his role will be to search for more runway capacity in the South East.
