Green fields must be sacrificed to give housing for all

They fear these proposals and plans to build another 15,000 houses and flats in the district by 2026 will see the largely rural South East swamped by developments.

Here, Brighton Housing Trust chief executive Andy Winter argues that we are going to have to sacrifice some of our green fields to tackle the housing crisis.

Whenever I fly into Gatwick I marvel at how green the South East is.

There is mile after mile of beautiful rolling countryside, broken up by the occasional golf course or town.

The coastal South East may give the appearance of urban sprawl but apart from the greater Brighton conurbation and some infill up to Portsmouth and Southampton, we live in a beautiful, green environment - and I want it to remain so.

But I am in favour of house building throughout the region. I am in favour of new towns, of building on the Downs, south and north, to achieve and exceed the Government's house building targets.

There is no contradiction between these two aspirations, just a small compromise affecting no more than one per cent of our countryside. We will still be living in a beautiful, green environment with rolling countryside and more golf courses than we probably need.

Those who talk of "concreting over the South East" offer little more than intellectually sloppy scaremongering, motivated by Nimbyism, offering few constructive alternatives.

Yes, there are real questions that need addressing with rapid growth in housing such as the need to improve local infrastructure - water, transport, schooling, health facilities and so on.

Also, we need to learn from past mistakes in the 1960s and 1970s and create mixed and sustainable communities.

Good design, especially if increasing density of housing, is essential as is a more effective use of brownfield sites in areas like Brighton and Hove. We should not be too fixated on conservation for its own sake.

Often properties that are more than 100 years old are not fully fit for purpose in terms of energy, efficient use of space and d i s a b l e d access.

In England, five per cent of the total land is taken up by domestic housing, two per cent is water, lakes, canals and reservoirs, three per cent is taken up by railways, roads and paths and less than one per cent is accounted for by non-domestic buildings.

That means 88 per cent of all English land is still green, though for an increasing number it is not pleasant. In the South East we need, as a start, 9,700 social homes each year rising to 14,000 just to prevent the regional housing crisis deepening further.

Unfortunately, regional housebuilding plans will produce only 80 per cent of the homes needed in the next 20 years.

We are experiencing a human crisis of epidemic proportions.

Nearly 200,000 households in the South East are on council waiting lists. That's one in every 18 families, affecting 455,000 people.

The National Housing Federation in the South East has highlighted the human misery caused by the "dysfunctional housing market" here.

In the publication Home Truths, it reported: "Last year, waiting lists went up by more than 14,500 households. Yet only 5,200 new homes were added to the social housing stock, taking into account stock losses from sales programmes.

"Each family waiting for a home has its own tale to tell. Of homelessness or overcrowding or housing-induced health problems or of aspirations denied. People's economic and social prospects are being affected every day."

House prices in the South East are set to rise a further 51 per cent by 2012, bringing the average house price in the region to nearly £400,000. According to the Land Registry, prices in 2006 were 20 per cent above the national average.

That is 12 times the average income of £20,524 in the region.

Since 1997, house prices increased more than four times faster than incomes in the South East.

More and more people require housing. For example in Mid Sussex, the house price affordability ratio, the average house price compared to average income, is 12.7 per cent.

Between 2001 and 2006 there was a 50.2 per cent increase to 2,113 in the number of households on the housing waiting list.

In Brighton and Hove, the ratio was 11.8 per cent.

Since 2001 there has been an increase of 143.8 per cent - to 8,056 - in the number of households on the waiting list.

These figures, shocking enough, exclude many - often single - people who are not vulnerable enough to get on waiting lists and not affluent enough to be able to buy.

I am interested in housing justice for first-time buyers, for newly created households, for those with growing families.

I am also interested in a genuine move on opportunities for those, who after a period of homelessness, have made changes in their lives and who need the secure base of a home from which to move forward.

Problems in Sussex are exacerbated by the number of second homes. The South East has the largest percentage of second homes in the country outside London and the South West.

The danger in Sussex is the lack of sufficient, genuinely affordable housing will see economically active households move to areas of greater affordability, thereby undermining the economy.

So we need to build, while ensuring that what we build is in keeping with the environment.

Of course build on brownfield sites but the reality is we need to build on greenfield sites as well.

We always have to meet growing need. If we achieve the Government's target, double it and double it again, England would have not five per cent but touching six per cent of its total land taken up by domestic housing. Eighty seven per cent of England would remain green.

I want this country to remain green. I also want housing justice, not just for the affluent but for the majority. We need to build to meet today's need and tomorrow's. I want my daughter's generation to achieve their housing aspirations.

Homelessness isn't confined to men and women on the street.

Their situation may be the most acute and obvious. Homelessness affects all those who cannot achieve basic housing aspirations: a safe, secure, well-maintained and affordable home, appropriate to their needs and the needs of their family.

Only when we have achieved housing for all can we say we live in a green and pleasant land.

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