Why Labour can never deliver 300,000 New Homes a year
Given there is a shortage of 400 (not a typo) local Planning officers in the UK. The Labour party can talk all day about building 300,000 new homes a year, but given that it takes 2.5 years from planning to sale of a property asset at best they are going to hit marginally more houses being built in next three years than now. Factor in fixed mortgage lending rates are likely to be 5% + for the next 18 months, who exactly can afford to buy these skyhigh valued new homes.
Obviously the provision of social housing is part of this new build figure, but again I do question the idea of a huge building plan for social housing and subsidised rents for the poorer people being paid by the taxpayer, where others are paying huge private rents.
I am the first to think it is everyone’s absolute right to have four walls and a roof over their head, but the idea of a poor taxpayer’s tax subsidising an even poorer tax payer to live in a home and paying less passing rent, is in itself a poor policy.
No easy answers but maybe look at Rishi Rich’s 20% tax on £2m of dividends, if the rich actually paid tax at a fairer rate maybe the Tories would stop banging on about squeezing more savings from the poorest and disenfranchised section of society.
Maybe a start to end all of this mess would be a permanent Housing secretary – non-partisan with a fixed 10 year plan supported acros sthe House, instead of the usual revolving doors of Secretaries and Housing ministers.
See below for Labour’s thoughts on Housing from their Manifesto dated 13th June 2024, read full manifesto this LINK.
Get Britain building again (Labour Manifesto)
‘The dream of homeownership is now out of reach for too many young people. The Conservatives have failed to act even though the housing crisis is well known to be one of the country’s biggest barriers to growth. Labour will get Britain building again, creating jobs across England, with 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament.
We will immediately update the National Policy Planning Framework to undo damaging Conservative changes, including restoring mandatory housing targets. We will take tough action to ensure that planning authorities have up-to-date Local Plans and reform and strengthen the presumption in favour of sustainable development. Labour will support local authorities by funding additional planning officers, through increasing the rate of the stamp duty surcharge paid by non-UK residents. We will ensure local communities continue to shape housebuilding in their area, but where necessary Labour will not be afraid to make full use of intervention powers to build the houses we need.
Labour will take a brownfield first approach, prioritising the development of previously used land wherever possible, and fast-tracking approval of urban brownfield sites. But brownfield development alone will not be enough to meet our housing need.
Labour is committed to preserving the green belt which has served England’s towns and cities well over many decades. Under the Conservatives, greenbelt land is regularly released for development but haphazardly and often for speculative housebuilding. Without changing its purpose or general extent, Labour will take a more strategic approach to greenbelt land designation and release to build more homes in the right places. The release of lower quality ‘grey belt’ land will be prioritised and we will introduce ‘golden rules’ to ensure development benefits communities and nature.
In partnership with local leaders and communities, a Labour government will build a new generation of new towns, inspired by the proud legacy of the 1945 Labour government. Alongside urban extensions and regeneration projects, these will form part of a series of large-scale new communities across England.
Housing need in England cannot be met without planning for growth on a larger than local scale so we will introduce effective new mechanisms for cross-boundary strategic planning. Labour will require all Combined and Mayoral Authorities to strategically plan for housing growth in their areas. We will give Combined Authorities new planning powers along with new freedoms and flexibilities to make better use of grant funding.
Labour will further reform compulsory purchase compensation rules to improve land assembly, speed up site delivery, and deliver housing, infrastructure, amenity, and transport benefits in the public interest. We will take steps to ensure that for specific types of development schemes, landowners are awarded fair compensation rather than inflated prices based on the prospect of planning permission.
Labour will deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation. We will strengthen planning obligations to ensure new developments provide more affordable homes; make changes to the Affordable Homes Programme to ensure that it delivers more homes from existing funding; and support councils and housing associations to build their capacity and make a greater contribution to affordable housing supply. Labour will prioritise the building of new social rented homes and better protect our existing stock by reviewing the increased right to buy discounts introduced in 2012 and increasing protections on newly-built social housing.
Labour wants exemplary development to be the norm not the exception. We will take steps to ensure we are building more high-quality, well-designed, and sustainable homes and creating places that increase climate resilience and promote nature recovery. We will implement solutions to unlock the building of homes affected by nutrient neutrality without weakening environmental protections.
Labour will work with local authorities to give first-time buyers the first chance to buy homes and end the farce of entire developments being sold off to international investors before houses are even built. And we will introduce a permanent, comprehensive mortgage guarantee scheme, to support first-time buyers who struggle to save for a large deposit, with lower mortgage costs’.
Full Labour manifesto – LINK.
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Andrew Stanton Founder & Editor of 'PROPTECH-X' where his insights, connections, analysis and commentary on proptech and real estate are based on writing 1.3M words annually. Plus meeting 1,000 Proptech founders, critiquing 400 decks and having had 130 clients as CEO of 'PROPTECH-PR', a consultancy for Proptech founders seeking growth and exit strategies. He also acts as an advisory for major global real estate companies on sales, acquisitions, market positioning & operations. With 100K followers & readers, he is the 'Proptech Realestate Influencer.'
