UK. Homeowners could win compensation if garden cities built nearby, says Clegg

Homeowners could be compensated by the state if the value of their property falls as a result of the building of new garden cities, to encourage them to accept development in their area, Nick Clegg has said.

The deputy prime minister suggested that affected households could receive council tax rebates during construction, or may be able to sell their homes to the state at guaranteed prices.

Clegg announced plans in April for a new generation of garden cities to ease the demand for housing in the south of England. It is expected that up to three cities of at least 15,000 homes will be built in the southeast, though no locations have yet been selected.

Clegg told the Sunday Telegraph he wanted a shortlist of potential locations published by the end of the year.

Speaking to BBC1's Countryfile, he said it was important to safeguard house prices in areas chosen for projects.

"We could maybe give deductions on their council tax for the period of time during which the garden city's being built," he said. "We could possibly also say to those homes where they think the price of their home will be affected, we will guarantee the price of their home by buying it, if you like, upfront."

Clegg promised that ministers would "go the extra mile to allay those concerns of people who feel that their property or the price of their home might be affected", adding: "We don't want people to lose out."

Publishing the government's garden cities prospectus in April, the deputy prime minister said there was an "arc of prosperity" stretching from Oxford to Cambridge where many people wanted to live but were unable to find or afford houses. He highlighted Bicester in Oxfordshire as one area that had expressed interest in a large-scale development, although he did not say whether it would be a new garden city.

He said then that he wanted a revival of the "vision" that led to a number of new towns, including Milton Keynes, Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield, built in the years after the second world war.

Clegg told the Sunday Telegraph: "Many people will want to live in world-beating garden cities. The point of them is that they must be well-designed, support jobs, contain top-quality green space and services – the best of town and country in one place.

"But we also need to make sure that no individuals lose out during the development."

Some 109,370 new homes were completed in England last year – the lowest figure for four years and well below the 200,000-250,000 that experts believe the country needs to meet its needs.

Twenty-seven new towns were built across the UK after the war, including Stevenage, Harlow, Milton Keynes, Corby, Cwmbran, Newton Aycliffe, Peterlee and Cumbernauld.

Source: The Guardian(UK.)