UK homes are smallest in Europe

Britain is building the most cramped housing in Europe in a phenomenon dubbed "rabbit hutch", with every country in western Europe, from Ireland to Italy, providing bigger new homes.

"The cause is simple and shocking," said Ellis Woodman, the curator behind the British pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale, which examines why the quality of British housing has fallen behind the rest of Europe, The Guardian reported.

"England and Wales are the only parts of Europe where house-building is unregulated by legally binding minimum space standards," he said.

"That oversight is all too indicative of the failure of successive British governments to ensure that we are well housed."

Homes in Britain have the smallest rooms and old dwellings are not much bigger, with the average floor space almost a quarter smaller than in Denmark, which boasts western Europe's most spacious living accommodation.

Among the smallest homes on the market are Barratt Homes' "Manhattan pods" in Harlow, Essex, which have just 34 sq metres of space and a living room measuring three metres by 3.6 metres.

A survey by the housing charity Shelter of 500 families living in overcrowded conditions revealed that 86 per cent felt someone in their family was suffering from depression, anxiety or stress and 71 per cent said overcrowding had a negative impact on their health.

"I haven't got any room for anything," said Sonia Donovan, a 23-year-old pregnant single mother who lives in a one-bedroom council flat in Plymouth.