Mr. Kevin Williamson

Kevin Williamson, chief executive of the NHPAU, said it was 'important for people to now accept that supply does make a difference'.

'If the government's sole objective was to crack the affordability problem then, yes, it could be read that focusing more of the growth in the southern regions would have a greater impact,' he said.

Kevin Williamson, the unit's chief executive, said: 'We welcome the government's commitment to housing, both in terms of the green paper target and in its extra funding for housing-related programmes in the comprehensive spending review.

'These are a big step forward.But taking a longer-term view, we need to be putting in place more supply.'

Williamson was non-committal on whether the need for more housing would force the government to relax its policy on development in the green belt.

He said: 'What we need to see coming forward, as a result of PPS3 [Planning Policy Statement 3], are the local development frameworks.

Set Medics - Hamilton County EMS ( Chief Kevin Williamson )

· Kevin Williamson, Chief Executive, National Housing and Planning Advice Unit

Commenting on this, Kevin Williamson, chief executive of the National Housing and Planning Advice Unit, said "If we don't meet the needs of our local communities we will have overcrowding and a failure to help people meet their aspirations."
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"Current regional plans considerably undershoot the level of demand that we are forecasting," said Williamson, of the National Housing and Planning Advice Unit."The fact that we are becoming more prosperous means that we are demanding new homes, or even second homes," he added.

For Kevin Williamson, Chief Executive of the National Housing and Planning Unit, tackling affordability through supply side initiatives is the key issue. Indeed, although a big step forward the Unit believes government targets do not go far enough and the NHPAU detailed this in a response to the Green Paper. "As we set out our responses to the Housing Green Paper, we think that up to 2020 we probably need an additional , million more homes than is currently in the Government's target ... if we were to increase supply to around 270,000 homes a year, that would bring stability to the affordability position, and indeed, would help the Government meet its own Public Service Agreement target which was agreed as part of a spending review recently".

There are three big issues for 2008 and they are affordability, affordability and affordability.

Kevin Williamson, Chief Executive of the National Housing and Planning Unit

Kevin Williamson on the new housing advice unit
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Kevin Williamson is chief executive of the National Housing and Planning Advice Unit (NHPAU), an independent body, funded by DCLG, which launches in London on 7 June.
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Williamson himself is a civil servant and previously worked on the extension of the licensing laws.

Tomorrow (Wednesday 14 February), Kevin Williamson, Chief Executive of the National Housing and Planning Advice Unit (NHPAU), set up by the Government last year to provide independent advice on improving housing affordability, will be a guest at the Regional Housing Advisory Group, chaired by the South West Regional Assembly.

With some areas in the South West experiencing a house price to income ratio of 15 to 1, and all areas in the region experiencing a house price to income ratio of at least 11 to 1, the Regional Housing Advisory Group are keen meet with the head of this new Government unit.

The meeting held in Taunton, will be a valuable opportunity for members of the group to meet with Mr Williamson, in order that he can hear first hand about the issues facing people in the South West who are trying to buy their first home, or find suitable places to live as their families grow.

During the day, discussions will also take place around future forecasting of housing and the group will inform Mr Williamson about how the issues have been dealt with in the Draft Regional Spatial Strategy, which was submitted to Government in April 2006.

Tomorrow (Wednesday 14 February), Kevin Williamson, Chief Executive of the National Housing and Planning Advice Unit (NHPAU), set up by the Government last year to provide independent advice on improving housing affordability, will be a guest at the Regional Housing Advisory Group, chaired by the South West Regional Assembly.

With some areas in the South West experiencing a house price to income ratio of 15 to 1, and all areas in the region experiencing a house price to income ratio of at least 11 to 1, the Regional Housing Advisory Group are keen meet with the head of this new Government unit.

The meeting held in Taunton, will be a valuable opportunity for members of the group to meet with Mr Williamson, in order that he can hear first hand about the issues facing people in the South West who are trying to buy their first home, or find suitable places to live as their families grow.

During the day, discussions will also take place around future forecasting of housing and the group will inform Mr Williamson about how the issues have been dealt with in the Draft Regional Spatial Strategy, which was submitted to Government in April 2006.