City's housing market broken - council leader

The leader of Wolverhampton's local authority has said the city's housing market is "completely broken" and only a "mass build" can resolve the issue.

Stephen Simkins said the lack of housing was his "biggest concern as leader", adding council housing stock had been depleted by the right-to-buy scheme in the 1980s.

Mr Simkins said his Labour-run authority would seek to use brownfield sites and welcomed the government's commitment to building 1.5 million new homes.

In August the government said it aimed to build the homes over the next five years, helped by planning reforms, the release of green belt land and the reintroduction of mandatory housing targets for local authorities.

Mr Simkins said housing was responsible for his largest case load.

"I welcome the government to say that we want to build houses," he said. "We're ready in Wolverhampton to build them to resolve the issues."

In its election manifesto, Labour also pledged to update the National Policy Planning Framework, restore mandatory housing targets, and deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation.

To achieve these goals, it said it would prioritise building on previously-developed brownfield land first but, where necessary, also release currently-protected green belt land of lower quality.

Mr Simkins said there was plenty of brownfield land in Wolverhampton, but he needed the money from the government to develop it, through the West Midlands Combined Authority.

He said it would not be a "simple fix", but added: "We want people to thrive in our city.

"If you want to resolve the issues on the NHS, give people a decent place to live."