The New Local Government Network (NLGN) has asserted that housing policy is informed by the way in which local authorities interact with community groups, construction firms and residents.

Emphasising the need for an asset-based framework for solving housing issues, the think-tank advocates more proactive cooperation and innovative policies in its latest e-pamphlet.

Firstly, social housing management needs improving, it asserts. NLGN statistics indicate that more than 68 per cent of large social sites are managed by companies without the requisite experience or expertise.

Council land and existing structures need to be used more effectively, by “recycling and reusing” former industrial land. And local authorities are in a unique position to ascertain the needs of residents and to commission developers to meet these requirements, the pamphlet argues.

“Efficient use of available land, whether for new development or regeneration will be critical to addressing current and future housing needs,” wrote Phyllis Starkey MP, chair of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee in the publication’s foreword.

“Renovation and infill, for example, will play a key role in boosting the housing capacity of urban areas. Sustainability must be the guiding principle behind all our efforts and that means making best use of what we already have.

“Local government must take a leading role if we are to generate solutions that blend new and old buildings to create sustainable mixed communities in which people want to live,” he concluded.

The pamphlet also picks holes in the Sustainable Communities Plan, observing that lower income families are being priced out of the housing market and that there is insufficient integration of new houses into existing communities.

Schemes to encourage low income groups to purchase property have also proved unsuccessful, the brochure suggests.

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