LET’s talk about housing. We’ve got a new minister at Westminster.

A chance to change direction? I’m afraid the signs aren’t looking good.

He seems to think para phrasing Donald Trump is clever or a good idea. Build baby Build. It’s not.

Doubling down on plans for 1.5 million homes is pie in the sky.

They’ll be lucky to build half of those and even then, most will be the wrong houses in the wrong places. We’ve got a housing crisis affecting the very fabric of our society and successive governments have and are failing.

CLOTH-EARED

The minister talks about working with developers; "by working in partnership with the developers and with the builders", and that he sees his job as "to get every barrier out of the way that is stopping that construction going ahead".

No thought about local people, communities, or indeed the environment. Just the same old cloth-eared approach that by building as many houses as possible you will miraculously solve the housing crisis.

Developers are being given hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to continue the same old tried and failing policies.

I thought it was a government for change and now resetting.

They were actually going to start listening to the people. Absolutely no sign so far.

Since when has the market delivered the houses we need. As profitability goes down, so does the number of houses built, especially the houses we need.

Almost every single housing authority in the country has told them it won’t work.

What more does the government need? How about giving the money to local councils and let them build the houses we actually want.

It’s not that revolutionary, it’s called council housing. We’ve done it before and with the political will, we can do it again.

THE BUILDERS ARE THE BLOCKERS

Homes should be treated as a right not as a commodity to generate economic growth. It is the responsibility of the state to house its citizens.

It’s a crucial part of the contract between the two. Once this starts to break down, you are in dangerous territory, a dysfunctional society.

Where will the key workers who deliver the crucial services live?

We now hear the same mantra around builders being blocked by overzealous councils and resistant local communities. If that’s the case, why are there hundreds of thousands of permissions granted but not built out by developers.

Stop blaming the planning authorities, it’s the builders who are the blockers.

A cynic might suggest the £millions of political donations by developers is doing its job.

Once again corporate Britain exploiting the British taxpayer to make money for shareholders and obscene executive pay, all supported by a complicit central government. Nothing’s changed, how disappointing.

WESTMINSTER GOVERNMENT DOESN’T WORK

How ironic that the government is hell-bent on reorganising local government when everyone can see it’s central government that doesn’t work.

Local councils are far from perfect but compared to the omni-shambles at Westminster they’re a beacon of governance.

To be fair to the present administration, it’s been going on for ages probably decades and all parties are to blame.

No wonder people are angry and frustrated, looking for something different.

It's not just the government that needs a reset; it’s the whole country.

If we continue with business as usual, which obviously isn’t working, why are we so surprised that the political norms begin to disintegrate.

It’s a wake up call for us all. We’ve got to do things differently or suffer the consequences.

From where I’m looking, they are not looking that savoury.

Cllr Julian Brazil

Leader of Devon County Council