Increasing the number of small house builders is the key to delivering the number of new homes this country needs, which is why Labour's call for an "army of small builders" is the right step forward to help address the housing crisis, according to the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).

In a speech the Shadow Housing Minister, Emma Reynolds, to the National House Building Council (NHBC), announced that a future Labour Government would require local authorities to allocate more small sites for house building and a commitment to ensure public land will widen opportunities for small builders.

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Brian Berry, FMB Chief Executive, said: "Labour's plans to boost house building by helping small builders enter the housing market is the right step forward. Over the past 25 years small house builders have been squeezed out of the market. In 1988 two-thirds of all new homes were built by SME builders, but that figure now stands at less than a third. This decline has accelerated over the past five years, as large numbers of firms have either gone out of business or have diversified out of building homes altogether.

"Any political party serious about tackling the housing crisis needs to get small house builders back into the market. Two barriers are preventing this from happening – lack of access to finance and lack of access to land. Until these two issues are addressed, small builders will not be able to build the number of new homes that are urgently needed to solve the housing crisis."

(CD/MH)