I congratulate the hon. Member for South Norfolk (Mr Bacon) on all the work he has put into the Bill and on getting it this far. I know just how hard that can be, having sat a number of times on private Members’ Bills in the previous Parliament, in particular on the Communities Bill, which took an awful lot of effort and time. I can only imagine the kind of effort he has had to put in to get us to this stage. I also commend him for achieving cross-party consensus. The Opposition are very supportive of the Bill.
If passed into law, the Bill would create an opportunity, for those seeking a plot of land for a new self-build or custom build home, to register their interest with their local authority. The local authority would then have regard to the register in developing its approach to housing and the local plan. We are supportive of this approach, because we think it essential that a range of measures be deployed to tackle the current housing crisis.
We are building half the number of homes we need to keep up with demand, and over the past years we have seen the lowest levels of house building in peacetime since the 1920s. As a result, home ownership continues to decline and is now at its lowest level for 30 years. A record number of young people in their 20s and 30s are living at home with their parents, while 9 million people are living in the private rented sector with little security or stability and facing increasingly unaffordable rents and poor standards.
The Lyons review set out a comprehensive plan for how the next Labour Government will tackle this crisis and get at least 200,000 homes built a year by 2020. A clear conclusion of that review was that we are overly reliant on a small number of builders and we need much more diversity in the housing market. Custom and self-build can be a part of that diversity.
Earlier this year, my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton North East (Emma Reynolds), who apologises to the hon. Member for South Norfolk for not being here today, set out Labour’s plans to boost home building, including measures to support custom and self-build and a register, as proposed in the Bill. Our hope is that as well boosting the level of custom and self-build, we will see an increase in take-up among those on low to middle incomes as a result of having such a register. Custom build should be an option for all those who want their own home—not just for a wealthy few.
In many other countries, the housing market is made up of a much more diverse number of builders, including self and custom builders. This often means the output in house building is much higher, while the homes are also attractive and of good quality—essential if we are to win the support of communities across the country for new homes in their local areas. While the Bill stops short of proposing the fundamental change needed, as set out by Labour, to tackle the housing crisis, it proposes concrete steps that will help boost the self- build and custom house building sector. The Bill is to be welcomed and the hon. Member for South Norfolk is to be congratulated on it. I wish him further luck with it.
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