Housing starts rise"could have come earlier"

The first recorded rise in housing starts for nearly two years has been announced. But the building industry claims that the rise could have come earlier.

The NHBC revealed this week that it received 13,900 applications for total new housing starts in July - 6% up on the same month last year and the first monthly increase recorded since October 1994.

For the first six months of 1996, housing starts were up to 16% down on the same period last year.

But Steve Lidgate, chief executive of Laing Homes, claims figures could have been higher earlier on. "Along with other contractors we are being delayed from starting new sites because of planning problems," he said. "Local councils are throwing out applications and deferring decisions for up to nine months because there's a current general reluctance in the country for any kind of construction.

John Stewart, economist and economic adviser to the House Builders' Federation, agreed. "Planning consents are well down," he said. "We think it's planners holding up new starts which is pretty bizarre, particularly considering the state of the industry."

A spokesman for the DoE said: "John Gummer has initiated a debate on how we are going to achieve 4.5 million new homes. We will be issuing a discussion paper on the issue after the summer recess."