Angela Rayner announced new planning rules to bolster housebuilding targets, but lack of space means some councils may have to build on low-quality green belt sites.
By now it’s well known that the Conservative’s continuously failed to meet their target of delivering 300,000 new homes a year. Despite this, the new Labour government have set even higher targets in a bid to address the ongoing housing crisis.
Yesterday, 30th June 2024, deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, addressed MPs and announced the overall target for new homes would increase to 370,000 a year. She said, ‘Some will find this uncomfortable, and others will try and poke holes. To this I say: we have a housing crisis and a mandate for real change, and we all must play our part.’
New planning rules
Under a new proposed National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), local authorities will be required to build more homes and if they fail to conjure up a clear plan for how they will go about doing this, minsters have a right to step in and take over.
Likewise, the new rules will also give councils the chance to review green belt land and identify grey belt sites – areas located within the green belt but don’t contribute to it. If local authorities also fail to do this, housebuilding organisations can present their proposals for development on what they think is grey belt area.
Whilst delivering the news, Rayner said the plans don’t mean ‘riding roughshod over local decisions and what local people want.
‘What we’re saying – and what we said at the general election – is that we will build 1.5million homes.’
By 2025 all councils need to have a local plan set – a target that may be unreachable as two-thirds of local authorities have plans that are at least five years old.
Rayner revealed an updated list of housing targets for different areas in England. In the North West targets have risen from 21,500 to just under 38,000 and in the East from 35,000 to almost 45,000. However, London have experienced a reduction as their target has dropped from nearly 100,000 to 80,000.
The housing minister claimed the reduction has come to ensure their plan is ‘credible’, but Kemi Badenoch, shadow housing secretary, has said described the decision as poor.
‘The government is in danger of choosing the worst of all worlds,’ Badenoch said. ‘It’s not addressing the basic economics of housebuilding, it’s centralising decision-making, and when you look at all that it looks like 1.5m will be a distant aspiration rather than a meaningful target.’
Experts reactions
As well as Badenoch expressing her opinions, other housing experts have also remarked how they feel about the change in plans.
Honor Barratt, CEO of Birchgrove said: ‘Angela Rayner’s plans for how Labour intends to increase housebuilding are laudable. However, we believe part of the solution to the housing crisis is making better use of the homes we already have.
‘There has been a lot of focus on the need for affordable homes in Labour’s announcements so far. But this country has a similarly pressing issue with the lack of housing suitable for seniors.
‘Senior housing needs to be moved up the political agenda as it’s a key part of the solution to this country’s housing crisis. Two thirds of over-65s have at least two empty spare bedrooms in their home, which equates to nine million empty bedrooms every night.
‘A significant number of these people would move to smaller properties if more suitable senior living was widely available. This would free up many larger properties and have a knock-on effect on the entire housing market.’
In addition, Adrian Plant, director of SOWN, has claimed the plans both ‘encouraging’ and ‘disappointing’.
‘It is encouraging to hear in Angela Rayner’s Statement that the government will address housing affordability by significantly increasing the housebuilding programme. More specifically, the increase in social and affordable housing is very welcome at a time when an increasing number of people are unable to get onto the first rung of the ladder,’ Plant said. ‘But the blanket omission of shared ownership from any recent announcement – the Labour manifesto, Planning and Infrastructure Bill and today’s Statement is, I believe, a mistake.’
Plant added: ‘We are seeing ever-increasing demand for shared ownership among an increasingly wide demographic. The beauty of shared ownership is that it does not necessarily require government subsidy, but it does require government support both in requiring shared ownership through policy and promoting shared ownership through government-assisted marketing.
‘It was disappointing to see that despite promises of a radical overhaul of the NPPF, the wording on shared ownership remains unchanged. And there is just one reference in the 84 pages. To me, this represents a lack of understanding and appreciation in shared ownership which probably extends to other forms of intermediate housing.’
Next steps
News of Rayner’s new planning policy has come alongside the government appointing Sir Michael Lyons, who chaired a 2014 Labour inquiry into how to boost homebuilding, to lead on the New Towns Taskforce – a project created to construct a number of new towns, with locations to be announced in the next 12 months.
Images: Luke Besley and Honor Barratt
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