THIS month I thought I would concentrate on the recent Governments white paper on Housing as it appears to be the most comprehensive attempt to actually do something.

In the past we have heard what needs to be done and people’s concerns without actually following this through with a statute driven policy.

Well illustrated in its title: "Fixing our broken housing market", the Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP in conjunction with Department for Communities and Local Government addressed Parliament on February 7, because within Britain we have seen house price inflation outstrip the rest of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) since the 1970s.

As a result the ratio of average house price to average income more than doubled, from 3.5 to 7 between 1997 and 2010, though things has slowed down to just over 7.5 to 2015.

However, I suspect that this figure will have increased in the last year.

In 2016 we saw a record number of planning permissions and completions.

Whilst encouraging this is still too slow as first time buyers still need to save according to Javid as they: “won’t have enough for a deposit for almost a quarter of a century”.

He goes on: “Or the couple in the private rented sector handing half their combined income straight to their landlord. The symptoms of this broken market are being felt by real people in every community. It’s one of the biggest barriers to social progress this country faces. But its root cause is simple. For far too long, we have not built enough houses. Relative to population size, Britain has had Western Europe’s lowest rate of house-building for three decades.”

"The situation reached its nadir under the last Labour government, when in one year work began on only 95,000 homes – the lowest peacetime level since the 1920s. Thanks to the concerted efforts of central and local government, last year 190,000 new homes were completed. But that’s still not enough. To meet demand, we have to deliver between 225,000 and 275,000 homes every year. In short, we have to build more of the right houses in the right places. And we have to start right now. Today’s white paper sets out how we will go about doing so. But house building doesn’t just happen. Meeting the unique needs of different people and different places requires a co-ordinated effort across the public and private sector. This means there’s no one single magic bullet that can fix the problem. Rather, we need action on many fronts simultaneously.”

First, the Government wishes to plan properly so we get the right homes built in the right places.

The second area of focus is all about speeding up the rate of build-out.

Finally, the white paper explains how we will diversify the housing market.

All very encouraging.

I have said in many of my ‘Market Comments’ that the Government needs to take action, it would appear that ministers do read the Stroud News and Journal and have read my articles and are taking my comments on board.

So in true parliamentary style I commend it to the House!