HC Deb 10 May 2002 vol 385 cc373-4W
Mrs. May

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (1) if he will set out his definition of key workers in the public services for the purposes of providing Government land for pre-fabricated key worker housing; [55321]

(2) what proportion of the housebuilding targets in each county will be provided by prefabricated key worker housing; [55324]

(3) if the named planning rules will apply to the development of pre-fabricated key worker housing; [55316]

(4) if the public land to be made available for the provision of pre-fabricated key worker housing will include land owned by (a) Government departments, (b) local authorities and (c) Government agencies; [55319]

(5) if he will list those organisations to whom free public land will be made available for the provison of pre-fabricated key worker housing; [55323]

(6) if he will list the sites of Government land that will be made available for the provision of pre-fabricated key worker housing. [55322]

Mr. Byers

The Government recognises that there is an urgent and growing need to assist the number of keyworkers and others on intermediate incomes who cannot afford to rent or buy in high demand areas where house prices have risen sharply over the last few years. We are looking at a number of options for helping overcome this problem, including the potential to increase housing supply by using surplus public sector land of all types for affordable housing and by using modular unit construction techniques as illustrated by the Peabody Trust scheme at Murray Grove, Hackney. These techniques offer significant time savings and potential cost reduction. Normal planning rules have applied to recent modular developments.

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