Kate Barker, a member of the Monetary Policy Committee and the author of two major reviews into the supply of housing, believed restrictions in the planning process were holding back the number of properties being built in the UK.
She also advocated greater use of green belt land to help alleviate the problem.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Barker said: “The fundamental problem of housing supply will indeed take a long time to solve and it’s unlikely we will see it solved in the South East. We are going to have to think hard about the planning system. We all feel crowded today, and one reason might be that we have built within urban boundaries.”
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However, Barker’s comments come at a time when the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has called for the percentage of homes being built on brownfield sites to be increased to at least 85 per cent.
Currently, 60 per cent of new homes are constructed on brownfield sites but the CPRE believed a large amount of land in urban areas was being wasted and greater focus should be placed on reclaiming this.
Kate Gordon, planning campaigner for the CPRE, said: “Our research shows significant opportunities for development on brownfield sites are being missed, for a variety of reasons. London alone has enough small sites close to town centres to accommodate around 60,000 new homes.”
Neil Johnson, head of PR and policy at the Building Societies Association, said: “If we are to address the problems, we need to increase the supply of housing. The government has favoured brownfield sites but the problem is that most of the sites which don’t need much remedial work have now been built on, so it is becoming more expensive to develop these areas. Therefore, if we are serious about solving the housing shortage then we have to look elsewhere.”
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