HBF Policy Conference 2011

Communities secretary Eric Pickles has called on the housebuilding industry to take on the "awesome responsibility" of providing homes that they and the local communities are proud of.

Speaking at the HBF Policy conference in London on March 31, Pickles gave a robust defence of the government's localism measures arguing that building what local communities want and like is a better way of providing homes than forcing development through with appeals and lawyers. "This is nothing to be afraid of," he said, "the best developers already do this."

But Pickles also called on local authorities to do their part and be reasonable in their demands on developers through planning obligations. "What looked like a reasonable request (of developers) three or four years ago may not be reasonable now. We are calling on councils to help get developments going."

Speaking later at the conference, Lloyds head of mortgages Stephen Noakes said that the successful introduction of a mortgage indemnity guarantee scheme supporting buyers looking to borrow 95% mortgages, would double lending to first time buyers. He stressed that this could only happen with a whole market solution involving lenders and triple A insurers, but that a meeting to look at potential solutions involving housebuilders, lenders and insurers was planned for May.

Who should attend:
• Chief executives/managing directors
• Senior national and regional executives
• Financial directors
• Business development executives
• Planning directors and consultants
• Material and product suppliers
• Industry consultants and service suppliers
• Technical directors
• Local government officers
• Marketing and PR executives and consultants