PM repeats new homes pledge but admits it’s ‘too ambitious’
Keir Starmer says his Government still plans to deliver 1.5 million homes, but agrees the doubters are right.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has repeated his party’s pledge to deliver 1.5 million new homes in five years even though he admits himself it is probably “too ambitious”.
In a speech outlining his ‘Plan for Change’, he said: “Building 1.5m homes is ambitious…A little too ambitious, perhaps”.
We face an almighty challenge to hit these milestones by the end of this Parliament.”
“And look, I’ll be honest… They’re right. We face an almighty challenge to hit these milestones by the end of this Parliament.”
Six milestones
He announced six milestones or targets, including the housing one, which many have doubted is possible.
Housing minister Matthew Pennycook admitted recently that reaching the homes target was proving harder than he thought before Labour came to power.
Industry reaction
Nick Sanderson, CEO at Audley Group, says: “The government must look at how the property market functions as a whole. Instead of continuing its blinkered focus on first time buyers and young families, it has to look at increasing the supply of age-specific housing.
“This would encourage older homeowners to move out of large family homes, freeing up supply and creating movement up and down the ladder. The benefits of this are numerous.”
Terry Woodley, MD of Development Finance at Shawbrook, says: “Reducing planning red tape and streamlining processes is going to play a crucial role in delivering the ambitious 1.5 million new homes target.
“Whilst it’s positive to see the Prime Minister address this in his latest speech, it’s not the only answer: a multi-faceted approach is needed to really address the issues currently facing developers,” he says.
“The recruitment and training of additional planners will take time, and any further planning reform remains unclear.”
Nettle gripped
Melanie Leech, CEO at the British Property Federation, says: “The Government has gripped the nettle of planning reform in ensuring each local council has a local plan in place, which is welcome.
“If we are to deliver 1.5m homes, however, further measures will be necessary, to increase the pool of skilled labour, upscale the materials we need to build homes, and ensure more land, including public land, is available for housing delivery,” she says.
Hand-in-hand, there will need to be funding, both access to mortgages, but also public and private investment in affordable and market rental housing.”
More to be done
Paul Rickard, MD at Pocket Living, says: “Within a climate of continuing challenges to the deliverability of the Government’s 1.5 million new homes target, we are pleased to see the Prime Minister’s Plan for Change not only re-state his ambition to hit that target, but also detail additional measures designed to achieve it.
“However, whilst the government is making good progress on reforming the planning system, we believe that more needs to be done to support and encourage those most likely, and most quickly, able to build the new homes we need.”
SHOCK: Only half of 1.5m new homes under Labour ‘for private sale’
Main picture: BBC News
While it is laudable that the Government wants to build new homes and no one could really argue that. Is it not alarming that the Labour Party made these promises either without sound research into the obvious challenges of such a big project or was this a pledge they knew they could not deliver. I do not promise anything to my landlord clients that we cannot deliver.