Heidi Alexander
Main Page: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Lewisham East)(10 years, 6 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Kris Hopkins
New build is really important, but my hon. Friend is right that we must also stimulate the existing housing market. The mortgage guarantee scheme covers existing housing, so I suggest that he goes out to promote it to residents in his beautiful city of Carlisle.
Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East) (Lab)
One of the real problems for first-time buyers is that simply not enough homes are being built to meet demand. In Lewisham, of the 15,000 homes that have been granted planning permission over the past six years, more than 9,000 are yet to be built. Is it not about time that developers were told, “Use it or lose it” when it comes to planning permissions?
Kris Hopkins
I want to promote investment in the housing market and to give developers confidence. The reality is that we have delivered 15,000 new homes through our Help to Buy scheme, and 1,000 of those were in London alone.