Hilary Benn MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State Communities and Local Government, responding to the Government’s release of a prospectus on Garden Cities today, said:

“After four wasted years of empty and over-hyped announcements on garden cities it is only now that ministers have got around to inviting bids for development. This Tory-led Government has presided over the lowest levels of house building in peacetime since the 1920s and the publication of this long-delayed document is far too little, too late.

“Ministers’ failure to take the real action needed to tackle the housing crisis will mean that home ownership remains out of reach of many low and middle-income earners, rents will continue to rise and waiting lists will grow ever longer.

“Labour is clear that you can’t deal with the cost-of-living crisis without building more homes, which is why Labour has committed to getting at least 200,000 homes a year built by 2020, including by building a new generation of new towns and garden cities.”