Since entering Downing Street, Gordon Brown has made housing his first priority and vows to build three million new homes by 2020.
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However, a report from Think Tank, Social Market Foundation, revealed that two of the three million homes would need to be built on either underdeveloped Greenfield sites, or on the green belt around major towns and cities.
The report also showed that even at a density equivalent to London, there was only enough brownfield space for 2.1 million new homes and at a more realistic density this fell to just one million new homes.
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The foundation’s director Ann Rossiter said: “Even if we build on all brownfield sites, including gardens and parks in our towns and cities, we would not be able to meet housing demand.
“So we will need to build significant numbers of houses on greenfield and green belt sites. There is no easy answer and wherever we build new houses involves trade offs.”
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