Labour declares war on councils who won’t push housebuilding

Local areas will have housing plans imposed if councils refuse to set out where new homes will be built.

Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook (main image) demanded local authorities get their ‘Local Plans’ in place so the Government can deliver on its promise to build nearly two million homes in the next five years.

Earlier this week, Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said Labour had restored mandatory housing targets and increased its overall total for new homes to 1.85 million within five years.

Housing crisis

She told MPs the Government planned to oversee building of 370,000 homes every year, up 70,000 from the figure Labour promised in the General Election.

Labour’s original target was for 1.5 million homes over five years, or 300,000 per year. “We have a housing crisis, and we all must play our part,” she said.

We are prepared to take local plans off local authorities and ensure they are put in place.”

Rayner said only a third of councils have an up-to-date Local Plan.

Now, Pennycook says local councils must “get those plans in place”, the Daily Telegraph reports.

“In extremis, we are prepared to take local plans off local authorities and ensure they are put in place,” he told Times Radio.

“We want to see local plans in place by next year. There’ll be a process to drive up coverage across the country. This is right that this is the focus.”

Pennycook said that Labour had inherited a planning system “that is chronically underperforming, that is not functioning as it should”.

Rishi Sunak

Government figures show how many houses will need to be built in each area. And North Yorkshire, which includes former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s constituency, has been handed the second biggest increase in the number of homes.

The target for Suella Braverman’s seat of Fareham has increased 60%, while in Waverley, Surrey, represented by Jeremy Hunt, it has almost doubled. But in Pennycook’s own seat of Greenwich, London, the target has nearly halved.