HBF chairman Stewart Baseley told housing minister John Healey that it was vital support was maintained for housing development and warned shadow minister Grant Shapps that Tory localism plans had to be controlled – if the recent signs of recovery in the market were to be maintained. Speaking at the Housing Market Intelligence conference Baseley said: “If I have one big message for government today, it is a plea not to withdraw incentives, as I fear to do so would potentially slow the market just as it is beginning to show signs of recovery. We need to see an extension of the stamp duty holiday and Homebuy Direct and Kickstart schemes as well as assistance for first time buyers.” <br> <br> He then warned that the Conservatives switch towards localism was a “high risk strategy” at the end of the worst recession in living memory, and that central government could not simply “abdicate responsibility for the country’s housing need any more than it can for schools and hospitals. “It is impossible to conceive that any government would risk an undersupply of beds or classrooms,” he said. “It has to know that for a population of some 60 million there is …