Norfolk comes second best in a new house building league table

Just over 3,000 new homes were built in Norfolk last year - making it the second best county in the whole of the eastern region but still falling short of national targets.

More new houses (3,040) were built in Norfolk up to the start of this year than in nine other counties including Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk. Only Essex saw more homes built with 3,660 constructed.

A study published today showed a total of 17,650 new homes were completed in the eastern region and 148,000 in England - way short of the 250,000 government target.

After Norfolk, came the counties of Hertfordshire, where 2,650 homes were built, Cambridgeshire with 2,390 and Suffolk with 1,610.

In Norfolk, 10.5% of the new houses were in the social sector (320) compared with 580 (15.8%) in Essex and falling behind Hertfordshire, where 440 housing association or local authority homes were built (16.6%) and Cambridgeshire with 430, (18% of its total.) Out of all the new homes built in England, 26,930 (18%) were for social housing.

The study was compiled by the GMB, Britain's general trade union, using new DCLG, Department for Communities and Local Government, data.