New Labour government ushers in increased housing targets to get Britain building again
Net additional dwellings in England (millions)
Labour announces overhaul of planning system
After their landslide victory in the general election, the new Labour government has set out its agenda and made higher rates of house building one of its top priorities. Although not all the details have been announced, the government has set out its intention to deliver 1.5 million net additional dwellings over the next five years. A key part of delivering this target is an overhaul of the planning system to remove some of the obstacles to housebuilding, with the Planning and Infrastructure Bill introduced in the King’s speech. Councils in England are to be given new mandatory housing targets to pave the way to deliver 1.5 million more homes in the next five years, reversing the Conservative’s decision last year to water down housing targets by making them explicitly advisory at a time when planning permissions were at a record low. They have been given new flexibilities which will see them review their green belt land if needed to meet their own target, identifying and prioritizing ‘grey belt’ land - low- quality green belt land. The government’s defines grey belt land as land on the edge of existing settlements or roads, as well as old petrol stations and car parks.
Annual
Cumulative 5 year average
1.6
Labour’s 1.5 million target
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
Delivering on targets will put pressure on construction capacity
0.4
Although housebuilding has been their initial focus, Labour have also committed to facilitating the construction of key critical infrastructure such as laboratories, gigafactories, and data centres, as well as modernising the UK’s transport networks and implementing changes to promote the development of large onshore wind projects and solar installations across the country. All of this will add pressure on capacity in the construction sector. An expanded pool of skilled workers will be needed to deliver the new housing Labour has identified as crucial to addressing the housing crisis.
0.2
0.0
2002 2005 2008 2011 2014 2017 2020 2023
Source: Capital Economics and the Office for National Statistics
12
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