Nick Raynsford
Nick Raynsford has been the member of parliament for Greenwich since 1992 and Greenwich and Woolwich since 1997. He joined the government in 1997 and held responsibility for housing, planning and construction as well as being minister for London. He was minister for local and regional government in the office of the deputy prime minister from 2001 to 2005. He was made a privy councillor in the 2001 New Year’s Honours. He left the government in 2005. Nick was shadow minister for housing and construction from 1994 and front bench spokesperson for London from 1993. He was a member of the environment select committee from 1992 to 1993. He was member of parliament for Fulham from 1986 to1987 and was a councillor for the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham from 1971 to 1975. He was director of SHAC, the London Housing Aid Centre from 1976 to 1986, and director of Raynsford & Morris Housing Consultants from 1987 to 1992. Nick Raynsford is honorary vice chairman of the Construction Industry Council. He is an honorary fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Institute of Structural Engineers, the Royal Institute of British Architects, and the Royal Town Planning Institute, and an honorary member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and the Chartered Institute of Housing. He is president of the Labour Housing Group, the National Home Improvement Council, Youthbuild and the Constructionarium, and a vice president of the Town and Country Planning Association. He is chairman of Triathlon Homes, the NHBC Foundation, the Fire Protection Association Council, the Centre for Public Scrutiny and a Trustee of Open City. He is a non-executive Director of Hometrack.
CommentStealing is good
Bent on pursuing its ideological objectives, the government has dismissed the Lyons and Armitt reports. Instead, it should plunder them and present the best solutions as its own
CommentTime to be heard
MPs are frequently having their ears bent by lobby groups opposed to construction activity, but the run-up to May’s election is a real opportunity to redress the balance
CommentExpect the unexpected
The really exciting thing about next May’s general election is how unpredictable it is. But there is one thing you can be sure of: the outcome matters for construction
CommentWe can do more for unemployed youngsters
Construction needs to think seriously about how to get more of the UK’s huge number of unemployed young people into the industry. A recent report has some simple suggestions
CommentPolitical reshuffles: Here today, gone tomorrow
It wasn’t exactly a night of the long knives, but a trio of political reshuffles in the space of a day served only to rob us of much-needed expertise, especially in housing
CommentNo sense of direction
In this month’s Budget the chancellor needs to address the disastrously low levels of housebuilding with, says Nick Raynsford, a radical reallocation of current funding
CommentThe New Homes Bonus: Home truths
The coalition’s much vaunted New Homes Bonus to increase housebuilding is falling victim to perverse incentives, lazy definitions and unsustainable cost
CommentA single voice for the industry
We speak fine words of collaboration, but all attempts to set up a representative industry-wide voice are torn apart by factionalism and confrontation, says Nick Raynsford
CommentSo much housing rhetoric, so little delivery
The housing minister can make 10 policy announcements before breakfast but nothing can disguise the fact that he is incapable of delivering on any of it, says Nick Raynsford
CommentGovernment housing strategy: Falling short
This week’s government housing strategy offers some hope to first-time buyers but it is an inadequate response to the fact that we are not building enough homes
CommentSocial housing: Locked out
Families living in social housing rely on subsidies to make ends meet, but with higher rents and reduced benefits affordable homes are becoming anything but
CommentCrossrail will breath life into Woolwich
A landmark £100m deal between Berkeley Homes and Crossrail will put Woolwich on the map
CommentA bonus worthy of Scrooge
The government wants the new homes bonus to spark a resurgence in housebuilding. But it is too complex, bureaucratic and riddled with anomalies to work
CommentThe home front
Nick Raynsford If public indignation at the coalition’s housing policies were not enough to demonstrate their unpopularity, the doubts of backbenchers within the ruling parties should be
CommentNick Raynsford: It’s an inept beginning
So much for turning Britain into ’a nation of homebuilders’. Rather, the coalition seems hell bent on stopping the housing recovery in its tracks
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Nick Raynsford: Let me mark your card
Now the election is over we can roll up our sleeves and get ready for the next one. But we do have a year or so of coalition government first.
CommentKeep the engine running
Whoever wins the general election will have to make decisions that will have far-reaching consequences for construction. We have to make our case before it’s too late
CommentDetached housing policy
Grant Shapps’ plans for the housing market fly in the face of expert opinion and will seriously hinder the recovery
NewsA tribute to Alan Cherry
I am very proud to have known Alan, to have called him a friend and to have been associated with one of his finest developments