Labour Set To Overhaul Planning Laws To Build The ‘Biggest Wave Of Social And Affordable Housing In A Generation’

Labour will overhaul planning rules to build the ‘biggest wave of social and affordable housing in a generation’, the Deputy Prime Minister has said.

Angela Rayner, who is also the Housing Secretary, said delivering the homes at scale is her ‘No 1 priority’ after accusing the previous government of giving up on building.

Echoing the Chancellor’s warnings around the public finances, Ms Rayner said ministers had discovered a their ‘frankly scandalous legacy’ lurking ‘under each stone we lift’.

The Deputy Prime Minister told the Observer: ‘We simply do not have enough homes.

‘In the death throes of the clapped-out Conservative government, they gave up on governing and compounded their housing failure. In the first three months of this year, work started on 41 per cent fewer homes compared to the same period in 2023.’

She is anticipated to announce the changes before MPs go on summer recess. 

These will include bringing back mandatory housing targets that were discarded by the previous Government and introducing ‘golden rules’ to ensure development works for local people and protects nature.

In its manifesto, Labour pledged to build 1.5million homes over the next parliament, including on green belt land if required. 

This will involve increasing mandatory housing targets by 50 per cent, meaning thousands more homes will need to be constructed in most places.

The move will probably be welcomed by the new Labour Growth Group, made up of 54 MPs, who have urged the leadership to ‘back the builders and not the blockers’ and ‘make tough choices’ over building homes.

‘A failure to act will not be forgiven by the public,’ they wrote. ‘Britain has a housing crisis and a huge infrastructure deficit – without strong and immediate action, this will only worsen.’

Earlier this month Conservative leader Rishi Sunak said Labour’s proposals will ‘damage public consent for more housing in the long-term’.

Housing minister Matthew Pennycook said last night: ‘Labour was given a clear mandate at the election to get Britain building again and kickstart economic growth.

‘We are determined to grasp the nettle of planning reform so we can build the homes and infrastructure our country needs.’

What Labour seem to overlook is that we have numerous derelict homes that are empty and in need of overhaul. Instead of leaving them standing to become more derelict, why don’t they salvage those while building more housing?

Councils leave houses and flats empty for a lengthy time before going in to make them good. Councils that do this should be fined for every week that a home is left abandoned. They should be fined the rental amount of that building that has been left empty until the Council decides to get off their posterior and make that building good for someone to move into.

Now they’re building hundreds of blocks of flats, stack and pack structures that you can’t swing a cat around. It will be the end of housing estates – it’s indeed the end of community living. No one knows each other anymore, and we are all strangers in our own neighbourhood, and we all know who the new homes will be given to.

This will be Labour’s race to concrete over what’s left, but do we have a choice if we want and need more housing? Immigration is at its highest, but let’s face it, we import food, so why not import human beings? And before anyone says that I’m a racist, I AM NOT! If we had the space to invite migrants to our country, then that would be fine, but we are a small country with limited room – actually no room now!