Garden city in Ebbsfleet, Kent not enough to solve housing crisis in UK

Ebbsfleet's 15,000 new homes will give it the same status as Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire (Rex Features)

The announcement that Ebbsfleet in Kent will have 15,000 new houses when it becomes a new garden city has been welcomed by a housing charity.

"There has been significant house-price growth in all new towns over the past 20 years, with all but two recording at least a doubling in average house prices," said Mark Hemingway of the Empty Homes charity.

However, he called for the Government to make better use of the 630,000 vacant properties in England: "Building a new town is only scratching the surface of the current housing dilemma... Britain needs to build 200,000 new houses a year just to keep pace with demand, but new house building in the UK is at its lowest level for five years."

Mr Hemingway believes making use of empty homes is vital in reducing the 1.5 million people on waiting lists.