- James Brokenshire was told he needs to train up to 15,000 more ‘brickies’
- A report claims the shortage hampers a pledge to boost the number of new homes built from 220,000 a year to 300,000
A shortage of bricklayers is holding back Government pledges to boost house-building, Ministers have warned.
Housing Secretary James Brokenshire was told he needs to train up to 15,000 more ‘brickies’ – almost a quarter of the current workforce.
In a report, senior Tory MP Sir Oliver Letwin says the shortage would be a significant ‘constraint’ on a Conservative flagship pledge to boost the number of new homes built from 220,000 a year to 300,000.
To tackle it, former Cabinet Minister Sir Oliver called on the Government and house-builders to ‘work together… on a five-year “flash” programme of pure on-the-job training’ to provide the extra bricklayers.
A report claims the shortage hampers a pledge to boost the number of new homes built from 220,000 a year to 300,000. Stock picture of a bricklayer
His independent review, published tomorrow, also warns that developers are limiting the number of new-built homes released on to the market.
But Sir Oliver advised that house-builders could increase the choice of design, size and tenure of new homes without impacting on the local market and so speed up the rate at which houses are built and sold.
Advertisement