Shadow housing minister Jack Dromey today pledged to hold a roundtable with small and medium sized (SME) housebuilders to help address the growing housing crisis.

The offer was made in response to a ‘call to arms’ made by the National Federation of Builders (NFB) and the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) to address the decline in the SME housebuilding sector, which has fallen by 69 per cent since 1988.

Speaking at a joint NFB and FMB breakfast fringe event at the Labour Party conference today, Dromey said that housebuilding had in the past played a key role to transform the British economy, and "now is the time to do so again to stimulate jobs and growth".

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Responding to Dromey's call, Julia Evans, Chief Executive of the NFB, said: "Members are finding it incredibly difficult to build. Finance is almost impossible to come by. Planning is in complete chaos. A host of regulations are heaping on complexity and cost. To some of our members these factors have brought building to a standstill. The implications of that for tackling the housing crisis are obvious. I’m pleased Jack Dromey has made this offer. We need to sit down and thrash out the issues."

FMB's Chief Executive Brian Berry added: "Government needs to create a robust framework that will enable SME housebuilders to help deliver the 240,000 homes that are needed every year to meet our housing need. Reduced regulation and a more realistic approach to developers’ contributions would certainly help. However a government commitment in terms of enhanced investment is what is needed to transform the housing market and get SME housebuilders back into work. Labour's commitment to reduce VAT on housing repairs to 5 per cent is a crucial step forward."

(CD/GK)