<p><span>The housing secretary intends to help “build more houses and to do so in the right way”, with his plans “to get more homes on the market” due to be announced in the coming weeks.</span><span></span></p> <p><span>Giving a speech virtually for the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, Simon Clarke, who was appointed housing secretary in the prime minister Liz Truss’s new government last month (September), said that Investment Zones, announced in the mini-Budget, would “deliver many of the homes that we need”. But he pledged to “go further”.</span><span></span></p> <p><span>He said: “I want to reassure those hoping to get on the housing ladder, that you remain at the heart of our agenda for government.”</span><span></span></p> <p><span>Clarke added that he would soon be “<span>fleshing out how we intend to get more homes on the market and improve access to those homes”. This, he said, would build upon the work of the present government to cut stamp duty “</span>and of previous Conservative administrations, which is paying dividends in the form of record numbers of homes being built today”.</span><span></span></p> <p><span>The government would not “impose cardboard boxes across our shires”, with accelerating development of brownfield land and “building beautifully”… “of the upmost importance”.</span><span></span></p> <p><span>Clarke said that as …