'Affordability' issue highlighted.

A WARWICKSHIRE developer has welcomed Gordon Brown's call to build three million new homes across the country by 2020 - but says a radical look at improving affordability is vital to ease the housing crisis.

Ken Linfoot, chairman and chief executive of Great Alnebased Linfoot Homes, says the new Prime Minister's proposals are a step in the right direction.

But he says merely setting targets to increase house building is one thing - actually achieving that output and ensuring people can afford to buy the new homes requires drastic action.

Mr Linfoot has drawn up an seven-point plan to help ease the financial burden of home ownership and help more young people to get a foot on the property ladder.

He suggests the following measures: The stamp duty threshold should be raised to pounds 200,000.

Mortgage tax relief for first time buyers should be reintroduced.

Lower fixed rate mortgages should be encouraged for first time buyers and for longer periods of time.

Proposals for the introduction of a planning gain land tax should be dropped.

The development of brownfield sites should be allowed irrespective of location.

Sites should be identified in all small towns and villages for small-scale development for sale to "local" people - that definition to include those who live within a reasonable distance of the homes being built and people moving into the area to work.

Where homes are sold to locals there should not be any insistence that future sales are restricted only to those in the area, to avoid complications.

Mr Linfoot has been a strong campaigner for releasing additional land to provide homes for "ordinary" families who want decent, well-designed homes with gardens and enough space for their children.

He recently issued a plea to planners and parish councils to release small pockets of land for housing in rural areas - both for social housing and for people wanting to buy homes in villages and small towns.

His company, which he runs with his wife Helen and daughter Claire Linfoot McLean, is behind a recent, small "affordable homes" development in Long Compton, using local materials, on land which would otherwise not have been released for housing.

The scheme, Knights Court, was the first of its kind to be developed under a Stratford District Council initiative to enable local people to remain in their own villages.

For more information visit www.linfoothomes.co.uk

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STRATEGY... Ken Linfoot.