Government Backs Self-Builders

Housing Minister Grant Shapps has announced that the Government will 'put its money where its mouth is' and help more people to realise their dream of building their own home. Speaking at Grand Designs Live 2011, Mr Shapps said that he wanted self build to become a mainstream housing option - and that Government would play its part by making available publicly owned land for use by ordinary people to build their own homes. Mr Shapps said he wanted to see more land being made available - both private and public - to enable more individual and community self build schemes. He called on private investors to bring forward plots, and for local authorities and Housing Associations to show their support. The Minister said central Government would lead the way: he will shortly announce the first publicly-owned sites to be made available to housebuilders to include plots exclusively for self-builders. Read more on the CLG website.