We were very pleased to be joined by Sir Ed Lister for the latest Redwood Consulting breakfast roundtable this week: ‘The HCA: challenges and opportunities delivering the new homes England needs’.
His remit at the Homes & Communities Agency and previous experience, including as Leader of Wandsworth Council, and at City Hall in London – as both Deputy Mayor of London for Policy and Planning and chief of staff to the Mayor – mean that he knows the challenges and opportunities involved in housing better than almost anyone.
The Homes & Communities Agency is soon to become Homes England, and Sir Ed was keen to stress that it will be very active in confronting the structural problems in the UK housing market. With the challenges from land acquisition and planning to construction and delivery, it is clear that it will take the combined effort and will of national government, local government and the private sector to provide the homes we need.