Priti 4 Witham

With substantial parts of Britain currently underwater, there is a great deal of news about the flooding crisis and the announcement by the Housing Minister, Yvette Cooper, of a huge £8 billion house building programme. No-one can doubt that there is a need to build more homes – demand has long outstripped supply and there is an affordability crisis in the country. My problem with any new commitment and new money to build homes, is that not enough attention has been given to the rather important area of infrastructure. By all accounts £300 million has been pledged to kick-start infrastructure for this new housing. But if building is taking place in areas where the infrastructure is in a parlous state then someone still has to ‘invest’ in the development of sound local infrastructure. Across the UK, the recent floods have shown that the UK’s infrastructure can no longer cope. Instead of pledging to build more houses, perhaps the government should go back to the drawing broad and take a look at the foundations upon which these houses will be built.