Copy article

Housing targets increased to get Britain building again: "This country needs to make up for years of missed housing targets"

ended 30. July 2024

The government has today announced an overhaul of the planning system to fix the foundations and grow the economy. All councils in England are to be given new, mandatory housing targets to pave the way to deliver 1.5 million more homes – tackling the most acute housing crisis in living memory. The new targets will mean councils must boost housebuilding in areas most in need, helping more people buy their own homes, removing the largest barriers to economic growth, and getting Britain building again. Key points below. Newspage asked property experts for their views, bottom.

  • Government to fix the foundations with an overhaul of the planning system that will see new mandatory targets for councils
  • Review of the greenbelt to identify ‘grey belt’ land and meet local housing needs, with ‘golden rules’ driving 50% delivery of affordable homes
  • New system will ensure every area must have local housing plans - with government ready to take the tough decisions to step in if areas fall off track

7 responses from the Newspage community

Copy all

Star Quote
Copy

Editor
Stephen Perkins
Managing Director at Yellow Brick Mortgages
Targets are great, but the plan for how they will be delivered is more crucial. When mandatory targets were in place before they were never close to being achieved, so that alone will make no difference. Ultimately, it's down to developers and house builders, not councils.
Star Quote
Copy

Editor
Andrew Montlake
Managing Director at Coreco
Housing targets have made a dramatic comeback in an attempt to finally get Britain building once more and meet the needs of the existing and a new generation of homebuyers, cast adrift by a broken housing market. The focus is very much on colours, with brown, grey and green the buzzwords every NIMBY will be focusing on. Labour are showing their determination to get on with the job in hand, and we can only hope that this is a new era of consultation, transparency and partnership with all stakeholders in the housing market acting for the long-term benefit of homebuyers all over the country.
Star Quote
Copy

Editor
Riz Malik
Independent Financial Adviser at R3 Wealth
Angela Rayner, quite rightly, is wasting no time in setting out Labour's goals to reinvent the UK's broken housing market and planning system. That she's doing this before her business cards have arrived from the printers is better still. This country needs to make up for years of missed housing targets and empty promises and Labour are putting the pedal to the floor.
Copy

Kundan Bhaduri
Property Developer and Portfolio Landlord at The Kushman Group
A lot of hollow talk and very little actual policy matter coming from this Government. You can change policy but you can't change people and their intentions so easily. If the new administration thinks they can just get away with bulldozing local people's wishes, think again. This will lead to revolt up and down the country like we have not seen before. This new administration has picked up the fight with the opposition's voter base with a vengeance. It sounds so cool making all these statements, but when the Government has to go through a mandatory consultation period, which will then need to go through parliamentary scrutiny, all hell will likely break loose.
Star Quote
Copy

Dr Konrad Rotthege
Co-founder at Conveyo
Addressing the housing crisis requires a comprehensive and pragmatic approach. There's no single solution, but a streamlined planning system is essential to stimulate economic growth and deliver the homes people need. We commend the government's focus on planning reform and believe the revised NPPF can be a catalyst for building the right homes in the right places. This will not only alleviate the pressure on the housing and rental market but also boost local economies and provide greater housing choice for everyone.
Copy

Editor
Justin Moy
Managing Director at EHF Mortgages
There is plenty of positive talk about increased homebuilding and a significant change in attitude by this new Labour government. However, they will also need to address the high cost of materials and shortage of skilled labour, given many of those within construction have been made redundant or looked for other career options. Local councils also need to improve the approval process, reducing red tape and providing a quicker timescale for developers. Theory and practice are where countless governments over the years have fallen short.
Copy

Editor
Rohit Kohli
Director at The Mortgage Stop
Everyone agrees that a major reform of the planning system is long overdue and we need an ambitious plan to make a real change. Targets are all well and good but with no means to achieve them in terms of the skilled labour force and quantity of material at affordable prices to achieve it then it's still not going to make a dent in the abysmal number of houses being built today. It still feels Labour are shying away from the real challenge which is how do we get an increase in tradespeople in a short space of time to deliver the numbers needed?