Low-cost housing 'should be prioritised in Norfolk'

03-Jul-2007

A group of MPs have met in Norfolk to discuss future housing policy for the region, with many concluding that cheaper housing must be built and stronger restrictions placed on those looking to buy their second properties.

Planning regulations should be altered to make it harder for prospective buy-to-let investors to take up property in the region, MPs said at the local debate, according to local media reports.

Those who bought second homes in the area, while contributing economically, were having a damaging effect on social cohesion, Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb advised.

"We have a particular problem with one of the largest gaps in the country between average earnings and house prices. There is also the issue of second-homes. Certainly they help bring more money into the local pots, but from my experience, second homes rip the heart out of coastal villages," Mr Lamb commented, the Eastern Daily Press has reported.

"The only solution is to strengthen the planning law to require prospective buyers to apply for planning permission if they want to switch to that use," he added.

Calls were made last week for tax relief enjoyed by buy-to-let investors to be ended in order to aid first time buyers.

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