Property Update: Full up in the South-east

MICHAEL HOWARD has already learnt that as Secretary of State for the Environment you cannot win. One of his first big decisions was to reject any increase in the annual allocation of land for homes across South-east England during the next 15 years, and this annoyed both builders and conservationists. The existing allocation allows 855,000 new homes in the area. That is not enough, says the House-Builders Federation, which believes more than a million homes are needed. But Tony Burton, of the Council for the Protection of Rural England, demanded that the rate of building be cut. 'This decision is as if the environmental debate of the last three years had not happened,' he said.