AN MP has spoken out against the slow rate of housebuilding across West Dorset and the rest of the UK.

Speaking at Housing 2018, a networking event for the housing industry, Sir Oliver Letwin said that the current rate of housebuilding was too slow to meet growing demand from people.

It comes as the Dorset Council’s Partnership which includes West Dorset, Weymouth and Portland and North Dorset councils launched its Open Doors campaign to tackle the housing crisis with a target of 20,000 new homes by 2033 in west Dorset, north Dorset and Weymouth and Portland.

Sir Oliver said a wide range of tenures has to be used to tackle the slow rate of housebuilding.

The MP for West Dorset, who served as a minister in David Cameron’s government, was speaking just days after publishing the first part of his government-commissioned report looking at the barriers to building more homes.

Sir Oliver, said: “I don’t think the major builders are doing it [land banking] as it’s not how their business operates. They make money out of building and selling homes and what they want to do is sell a lot of homes at a price the market determines. They are not engaged in evil speculation, but we do need to speed them up on these sites.”

One of the solutions Sir Oliver talked about was to open up public land to solve the housebuilding crisis.

He added: “I spent years as a minister trying to eke public land out of the Ministry of Defence and Department of Health and various other agencies.

“The Ministry of Defence is currently sitting on an estate roughly speaking the size of Wales; it has as much land as when we had two million people under arms. This is not a sensible way for our country to run.

However, he identified that housing associations play an “enormous role” in speeding up housebuilding on large sites.

Sir Oliver continued: “Housing associations have an enormous role in the expansion that I’m talking about.

“We have to open up to a wide range of additional forms of ownership and tenure if we are to solve this problem.

David Montague, chief executive of housing association developer L&Q, said: “Sir Oliver Letwin’s review is a breath of fresh air for our sector, and it is reassuring to hear today that he truly understands the barriers to building faster. Housing associations like L&Q take a long-term, partnership approach to building homes and communities.”

In response, the Dorset Council Partnership say are working closely with housing associations, developers and land agents to bring forward new homes schemes as part of the Open Doors initiative.

Cllr Graham Carr-Jones, North Dorset District Council leader and housing portfolio holder, said: “We are facing major housing shortages with demand outstripping supply.

“Opening Doors is about seizing the initiative and implementing any measures we can at a local level to help play our part in solving the housing crisis.”