Labour pushes housing target up to nearly two million

Within weeks of winning power Labour has increased its housing target for new homes to 1.85 million homes within five years.

Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner (main pic) 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.

Housing crisis

She repeated the pledge to restore mandatory local housing targets and reform the planning system. “We have a housing crisis, and we all must play our part,” she said.

Rayner warned that some areas might have “surprising targets”. She also denied reports that the target for London was being watered down, and would be around 80,000 per year.

In what she called an “unforgiveable” outcome, the Deputy PM said the number of new homes built this year would be below 200,000.

“We inherited the most acute housing crisis in living memory.”

The Tories’ decision to make local housing targets only advisory lay behind the failure of the previous government to achieve its target of 300,000, she said.

“We inherited the most acute housing crisis in living memory,” she said.

Targets changed

Kemi Badenoch, who is the Shadow Housing Secretary and a candidate to become leader of the Conservative Party, said Labour had already changed its housing targets less than four weeks after winning the election.

She said the original timetable for reform of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was 100 days, and now the deadline was the end of the year.

But Rayner responded by saying a consultation on the NPPF was starting immediately and would last eight weeks.

Industry reaction

Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark, says: “Ensuring sustainable homes are delivered in key areas is paramount for the economy and it’s encouraging to hear Angela Rayners commit to an in ‘infrastructure first’ approach, and one that focuses on making full use of available brownfield and grey belt land where possible first.

“Propertymark has long called for an enhanced housing strategy to be developed and one that can deliver for generations to come, so it’s positive to hear this will become an integrated ambition moving forwards. It is essential housing supply has seamless continuity and keeps pace with demand, so the return of mandatory housing targets and a commitment to building a mixture of housing becomes a reality.”

Philip Allin, Director at Boyer (part of Leaders Romans Group), says: “Many of the aims are familiar (e.g. requirement for universal Local Plan coverage). However, the tools with which this is to be achieved differ markedly from that of the previous Government.

“How already stretched planning authorities will deliver these objectives will remain to be seen. However, these announcements are most welcome and will hopefully result in the new infrastructure and increased housebuilding that the country desperately needs.”

Simon Gerrard, MD at Martyn Gerrard Estate Agent and past-president of the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA Propertymark), says: “I have been very encouraged by the new government’s drive to fix our broken planning system, and Labour has done well to identify some of the major blockages that have prevented housebuilding.

“Specifically, local planning authorities have time and again proved the most stubborn of these blockages. Under the previous government, they were allowed to drop housebuilding targets, and the requirement introduced to build ‘beautiful’ homes only further enabled them to block development at every turn for purely subjective reasons.

“The reintroduction of mandated housing targets, alongside a new method to calculate housing need and a requirement to have a development plan in place, are hugely positive steps.”

MAIN PIC: BBC NEWS