Housebuilding targets to be rolled back to avoid Tory rebellion

Planning rules are set to be altered to avoid a Tory rebellion, as reports say up to 100 backbenchers were ready to oppose housebuilding targets.

The compulsory targets meant 300,000 houses would have to be built in England every year, but it’s thought these will now be ‘advisory’.

Councils will be able to build fewer homes if they can prove that building more would drastically change the character of the area. This is despite a housing crisis affecting the country, with cities such as London and Brighton facing chronic housing shortages.

The cost-of-living crisis has compounded the situation, with recent research by Shelter finding up to one million people are at risk of eviction from their private lets.

‘We have an urgent need in this country to build more homes so that everyone – whether they aspire to home ownership or not – can have a high-quality, affordable place to live. But our planning system is not working as it should,’ Levelling Up Secretary Mr Gove said. ‘If we are to deliver the new homes this country needs, new development must have the support of local communities.’

A vote on the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill had to be pulled last month, as plans for the rebellion were revealed.

MPs Theresa Villiers and Bob Seely are thought to have led the opposition, who feared the planning system would become ‘more conservative than the one we currently have.’

Critics have said the alteration would leave young people worse off, but Seely said the change would help them to get on the property ladder by allowing local areas to prioritise affordable housing.

The Guardian reported that the government had initially offered to add amendments to the bill, but this offer was rejected.

Photo by Josh Olalde