House building  

Returning to my theme of helping people through the recession, I had talks yesterday with Gordon Brown and Margaret Beckett (separately) about how we can get house building going again. I raised the subject following two separate meetings with developers in Stafford who cannot get the finance they need to allow them to start their next projects. Gordon recognises the problem and showed me that Ministers are willing to “think outside the box” to try to help. He explained that the new Homes & Communities Agency is permitted to buy land from developers if this will help the developer to raise money for the intended project. The Agency may then be a partner with the developer in the project. Margaret equally said that she is willing to look at specific projects to see what can be done to help them go ahead. I’ve promised to send her details of the schemes that the developers...