Reported November 2009
‘The housing market is in its worst state for 18 months, according to a leading house price survey which suggested a "whole generation" of first-time buyers was being shut out.
The inability of banks and building societies to offer affordable mortgages to people trying to get on the property ladder was causing the housing market to slide substantially, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
Estate agents and surveyors were at their most gloomy since April 2009, with more people reporting that house prices had fallen over the previous three months than had risen. In total the "balance" in October was -49, down from -36 in September.’
Decentralisation and Planning Minister Greg Clark said in 2010:
“The current over-centralised planning system has become one of the greatest obstacles to growth in Britain, shutting out opportunities for development and burdening business with bureaucracy and red tape. Every reform to planning in today’s Budget is designed to reverse that position and recalibrate the system to support, rather than hinder economic growth and sustainable development. These measures will help create a planning system fit for the challenge of recovery and rebuilding Britain’s economy, while at the same time maintaining the Green Belt and environment.”
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles welcomed measures to improve the planning system, action to get the house building industry building again and steps to cut the amount of red tape for councils and business set out in today’s Budget.
The Department for Communities and Local Government is at the centre of the Coalition’s plans to revive and rebalance the economy. Over the coming months the Communities Secretary will oversee a programme of work to unblock the planning system, boost house building and attract new investment into the market, maintain environmental and countryside protections.