The government has been issued an urgent warning that it will not meet their goal of constructing 1.5 million new homes.
The target is broken down into 370,000 each year, an ambitious challenge and one that’s garnered fierce backlash.
Labour announced “immediate, mandatory” housing targets today that local councils must follow as part of their shake-up of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
In just 12 weeks, councils will be forced to come up with a timetable for delivering their allocation of new homes or they may have a timetable forced upon them.
What’s angered people the most, however, is that councils may be forced to build on green belts for the first time, re-designating it as “grey belt” land.
Despite these extreme measures, experts and local authorities are already slamming Labour’s housing ambitions as unachievable.
Stuart Law, CEO of leading property lender Assetz Capital, warned the new government may have been over ambitious with its pie in the sky housing reforms.
He told the Daily Express: “I don’t think they’ll hit the 1.5 million … I think it’s a real challenge given it’s a standing start … There are all sorts of other challenges as well.”
However, he added: “I think they’ll make good progress towards that 1.5 million even if they don’t hit it. And shortly afterwards, I think they’ll be there and beyond.”
Housing Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has maintained her government is doing the right thing by taking “bold and decisive action” to meet its housing targets.
She said: “Today’s landmark overhaul will sweep away last year’s damaging changes and shake-up a broken planning system which caves into the blockers and obstructs the builders.
“I will not hesitate to do what it takes to build 1.5 million new homes over five years and deliver the biggest boost in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation.
“We must all do our bit and we must all do more. We expect every local area to adopt a plan to meet their housing need. The question is where the homes and local services people expect are built, not whether they are built at all.”
Discussing the 1.5 million homes milestone on the morning round today, Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook said: “We’ve always been entirely honest about the fact that it’s an incredibly stretching target, but we do think it is achievable.
“Planning reform is an essential part of the plan to ensure we’re on a trajectory to meet that milestone of 1.5 million new homes.
“When people say it’s too stretching, our answer is we’ve got to do this because there are people suffering out there, and our economy is being held back.”
