With the construction sector back at work almost a month and property back over a week, it was positive to see the three political parties involved in negotiations on forming a new government, finally reach agreement on a Programme for Government yesterday.
While it is very early days and the 140 page, 50,000 word document has yet to be studied in detail or approved by the members of the political parties involved, we can outline some of the key policies relating to property and construction here.
They include;
– the proposed construction of 50,000 new social homes
– the introduction of an affordable house purchase scheme
– a ‘Towns First’ policy for the rejuvenation of our town centres
– a National Retrofitting Plan
– plans to increase new apprenticeships, upskill workers and enhance productivity
– CPO powers for the LDA and reform of CPO laws
– the end of Strategic Housing Developments
– expansion of Living Cities initiative
Of course the devil will be in the detail and the SCSI is studying and will continue to study the Programme carefully so as to identify any areas of concern. At this point it does appears as if we are closer to the formation of a new government and given that a caretaker government has been in situ through an unprecedented crisis for four months, that must be viewed as a positive.