Following the Autumn Statement last Wednesday, political commentators believe that signs are increasingly pointing towards a Spring 2024 General Election.
The latest opinion polls from Politico show that the UK Voting Intention for the Labour Party is at 44%, consistently polling ahead of the Conservative & Unionist Party at 24%.
A key question being asked by those in the industry is what a potential Labour Government means for UK housing. The Leader of the Labour Party, Sir Kier Starmer, has signalled his intention to reintroduce the national housing targets, something which the current Levelling Up Secretary, Michael Gove, stated was always “optional”. Having consistently failed to meet the 300,000 home per annum target for England (a revised target set by the Government in November 2017), it’s perhaps not a surprise the current Government has changed its tone.
Starmer has placed significant importance on house building, with the first of his five pledges being “Get Britain building again”. It shows housebuilding being a core part of Labour’s plan. As announced at the party conference, Labour has committed to building 1.5 million new homes by the end of their first term, reforming the planning system, boosting affordable housing, delivering the next generation of new towns, delivering a package of devolution to Mayors, with stronger powers over planning and control over housing investment, fast-tracking high density on urban brownfield land, and supporting first-time buyers.
What is lacking is detail around each of these commitments, the ‘how’. There are some snippets of how Labour proposes to deliver on these commitments, principally in three key areas:
1. Work with Councils to draw up and agree Local Plans which has stalled and supporting this by recruiting hundreds of extra planners.
2. Strengthen requirements to approve new homes in areas that do not have up-to-date Local Plans, intervening to approve new homes in poorly performing areas, (including using call-in powers in the most extreme cases).
3. Boost affordable housing Reform S106 Agreements (planning charges) with added flexibility in the Affordable Homes Programme.
A key theme running through the first and second point ultimately comes back to properly resourcing the planning system. Recruiting planners to the industry and properly investing in the profession is fundamental. We can be as radical with planning reform as we want, but if we do not value the people working within it and give them the resource required, then change cannot come about.
On the second point, there is still a “get out of jail” statement using call-in powers in the most extreme cases. In terms of intervening to approve new homes in poorly performing areas, it feels like this could be linked back to the planning reform point. It could, however, mean following the trend which the current Government is on in threatening to designate certain Local Authorities as underperforming, which passes planning authority powers over to the Planning Inspectorate.
On the third point, it feels somewhat unrealistic to assume that S106 reforms alone can solve the affordable housing crisis. There is nothing in this that talks about funding local authorities, bringing in rent controls, funding the existing housing stock, or reimagining the current affordable housing programs. Yes, planning charges should be looked at as part of a wider suite of measures, but this shouldn’t be done in isolation.
In short, there isn’t enough to dig into the detail at this stage. The signals are good, but then again, aren’t they always?
Sources:
Could Rishi Sunak be gearing up for a spring election? | The Independent
Michael Gove claims government’s 300,000 housebuilding target was always optional | The Independent
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