LIBERAL DEMOCRATS SET OUT PLANS TO BUILD A MILLION NEW AFFORDABLE HOMES BY 2020

1.57.39pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 28th Jun 2007

Paul Keetch, MP for Hereford and Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate, Sarah Carr, are backing the Leader of the Liberal Democrats Menzies Campbell's call for a national revolution in housing, when he unveiled proposals for building one million new socially rented, affordable and low cost homes by 2020.

Menzies Campbell said that innovative and imaginative solutions were needed to deliver this revolution.

Liberal Democrat proposals include:

• Building 100,000 new affordable, social and low cost homes each year

• Devolving and reforming the planning system to make decisions faster and more effective for all parties

• Introducing equity mortgages to ensure that affordable housing is built and maintained for the benefit of generations of buyers

• Building smaller social housing developments which are integrated with private housing

• Cutting VAT on housing renovations and repairs

"Over the last ten years in England, the number of homes being built for social housing has halved while the number of families on the waiting list has gone up by 50% to one and a half million," Paul Keetch said.

"House prices have grown at almost four times the rate of earnings, whilst mortgage debt has grown by 150%. Fewer and fewer young people can get a foot on the housing ladder and locally the problems are escalating with little or no control being implemented by the Tory Council despite there being plenty of opportunity for them to make changes to policy that would have made vast differences to the housing situation locally. Young people and small families on low incomes are becoming desperate and action must be taken at both national and local levels to help."

Sarah Carr added, "Young people should live in hope of having their own homes and our party's keen to make sure that ambitious young people can get on to the housing ladder but most of all to ensure that every citizen has the chance to live in a decent home - whether public or private.

"With vision, imagination and drive the Liberal Democrats have set out plans that will achieve this and help the residents of Herefordshire who need action to be taken now!"