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New drive to promote home ownership > Flooding in UK> David Cameron Prime Minister UK 7 December 2015

New drive to promote home ownership


‘Aspiring homeowners will be able to climb onto the property ladder with as little as a £1,400 deposit under government reforms that aim to promote home ownership. The rules on shared ownership properties — homes that people can part-buy and part-rent — will be loosened to open the scheme to 175,000 more households, David Cameron will said Today. The move will contribute to the government’s promise to “build a nation of homeowners”, Mr Cameron said, seeking to set out his party’s election manifesto achievements so far.


David Cameron also visited Carlisle today 

: Helping people affected by the flooding over the weekend , in the north of England.
Some 5,000 homes and businesses hit by floods in Cumbria and Lancashire are to be given tax relief, as new Met Office warnings of rain are put in place.
People will not have to pay council tax or business rates until they are back in their properties.
Storm Desmond hit northern England, parts of Northern Ireland, north Wales and southern Scotland at the weekend.
Most power has been restored, but emergency services remain on high alert due to the threat of more bad weather.
One severe flood warning, indicating danger to life, remains in place - for the River Wyre in Lancashire - and the Met Office has a yellow "be aware" warning in place for parts of northern England and much of Scotland on Wednesday and Thursday.
Rain is forecast to become persistent and heavy at times over high ground, accompanied by winds of up to 60mph, and there are fears of further flooding and disruption to transport.
The decision on tax relief was taken at a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee, chaired by Communities Secretary Greg Clark.
"If you have to move out of your home or your business is disturbed you won't have to pay business rates or council tax until back trading or back in your home," he said.
Mr Clark said he had met insurers on Tuesday morning and received a "cast iron guarantee that they stand ready and have the capacity to respond straight away to their customers".
Record-breaking amounts of rain fell in Cumbria - the worst-hit county - prompting it to declare a major incident. Honister saw 341mm (13.44in) of rain fall in the 24 hours from 18:30 on Friday, a UK record.
In other developments:
There are still about 1,000 homes without power in Cumbria and engineers are working to reconnect them as soon as possible.
On Monday, as many as 42,000 homes in Lancaster lost power for a second time following flood damage at a substation.
Sixty-three generators are now being used to power 18,000 homes in the city in an effort to relieve the load on the substation.
Electricity North West is urging people to use power sparingly and warning that managed power cuts may be needed later if demand exceeds the capacity.
Graphic showing the Environment Agency's flood risk forecast for the next three days - 8 December 2015


Delivered just 7 months after the election, the speech will set out how the government is pressing ahead with major commitments – including the delivery of free childcare, 3 million new apprenticeships, a crackdown on coasting schools and affordable homes to unlock home ownership to hundreds of thousands.

The government is also pressing ahead with more recent commitments too, including the National Living Wage.
In the speech, the Prime Minister  said:
A manifesto shouldn’t be a wish-list; it should be a checklist. And that’s why, since the election, we haven’t been taking off in in a new direction, but marking off the commitments we made.
Today, I want to set out the progress we’re making. I want to go back to that opening page and show that this is a government that delivers and is accountable as it endeavours to do so.

Major expansion to shared ownership

Among the measures set out by the Prime Minister today will be plans to radically re-invent the shared ownership scheme – opening the door to an extra 175,000 aspiring homeowners and helping to deliver commitment to create 1 million more homeowners over the next five years.
In a major expansion to the scheme – which allows people to part buy, part rent properties, increasing their ownership over time – the government will be putting an end to restrictions that stop people using the scheme more than once.

A Government that delivers
This means that for the first time, those already in a shared ownership property will be able to move to another –allowing them to use the capital they have gained to move to a bigger property, as their families grow or circumstances change.
The government will also be changing old-fashioned rules that dictate that only those in certain professions such as key workers or those that live in certain areas could own a shared ownership property - locking out thousands from home ownership.
Instead, from April 2016 anyone earning below £80,000 in England and £90,000 in London will be able to buy a stake in a property - meaning around 175,000 more people could get a roof of their own over their head.
Speaking today the Prime Minister  :
For years, we’ve had Shared Ownership, where you part-buy, part-rent a property. So many people are attracted to this idea, especially those who thought they’d never have a chance of owning a home.
But, because it’s been heavily restricted, many of those people have missed out. We’ve had local councils dictating who is eligible, based on everything from salary to profession to where the buyer comes from.
From April next year, that will make 175,000 more people eligible for home ownership. It means some people will be able to buy a house, for example, in Yorkshire, with a deposit of just £1,400. It will be opened up to people of any occupation, the only restriction being that you have to earn under £80,000, and £90,000 in London.
Yet again, a government that delivers, building a nation of homeowners.
Other announcements to press ahead with delivering the government’s commitments announced today include:

Speeding up delivery of discounted Starter Homes for first time buyers.

With an £8m fund for councils to prepare land that’s lying unused for the first wave of new homes. This money will get shovels in the ground on 27 starter homes sites across the country – opening up the new style homes to first time buyers as soon as possible.








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