Liberal Democrat peer and deputy leader of Pendle Borough Council calls on the Government to provide grants that would encourage housing developments on unprofitable brownfield sites in East Lancashire.
This is about former cotton towns in East (Pennine) Lancashire where the housing market is slack and house prices in the towns are low – decent terraced houses typically from £50,000 to £85,000, modern semis and bungalows from £100,000 to £150,000.
Most of the available housing land, brown or green, is not “viable”. The cost of land and building plus the developers’ profits is more than the local market return from sales or letting. The only exceptions are attractive countryside sites on the edge of town where there is strong resistance to development (and not just from NIMBY neighbours), the subject of bitterly fought planning battles.
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Lib Dem Lords 