Chancellor pledges to deliver 1.5m homes and planning reforms

The new Chancellor has pledged to build 1.5 million homes during the next Parliament which, if achieved, would approximately double the number of homes built under the previous Government. 

At a time of high interest rates and construction costs, it is as difficult a time as any for the Government to achieve this much needed objective. 

Here, housing and regeneration development experts Helen Brown, Elaine Field, Adam Jason and Josh Wing examine the new Government’s first actions in relation to the housing crisis and proposed reforms for the sector.

Support pledged for affordable housing development and more

Policy takes time to effect and while we’re yet to hear from Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister in her second role as Secretary of State for Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in its manifesto, Labour pledged: 

• The delivery of 1.5m new homes — including greater devolution to local decision makers, updating the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and creating ‘New Towns’ all while prioritising ‘Sustainable Development’.
• Developing more brownfield land — and releasing poor quality and ugly greenbelt land (which Labour refers to as ‘greybelt’ land) seemingly while protecting the legitimate greenbelt to ensure that development benefits communities and nature as part of a major planning reform programme.
• A mortgage guarantee scheme to assist first time buyers — for those who struggle to save for a deposit, offering lower mortgage costs.
• Support for affordable housing development — with the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation. Support includes strengthening planning obligations to ensure that new developments include more affordable housing as well as reviewing right to buy discounts.

However, looking to solve the housing crisis by planning reforms and underwriting banks’ exposure in the mortgage market isn’t a novel approach. The execution of the policy will ultimately determine whether the targets will be achieved. 

Planning reforms to include 300 additional planning officers 

The Government was quick off the block to announce a number of key planning reforms including:

• Support for local planning authorities — with support for the provision of 300 additional planning officers across the country. 
• A consultation on amendments to the NPPF before the end of July which will reintroduce mandatory housing targets — there’s talk of the national target being split between devolved city regions and it will be interesting to see whether this is also captured in the consultation. In conjunction with the NPPF consultation, the Deputy PM will be writing to all local planning authorities on the need for local plan updates and ongoing green belt boundary reviews.   
• Support for development applications with regional and national economies — notwithstanding manifesto pledges to delegate decision making to a local level, the Chancellor confirmed an appetite to call-in applications where the benefits of the development are an essential consideration for regional and national economies. Two appeals for data centres have already been called in over the weekend. 
• A task force to deliver stalled sites — a new task force is being created to unlock the delivery of stalled sites, including the Liverpool Central Docks, Worcester Parkway and Northstowe.
• Support for infrastructure projects — the Chancellor also announced a need for infrastructure projects, including priority to be given to unlocking those already in the system and with key decisions being made nationally rather than locally.  

The future of the Affordable Homes Programme

How far the Treasury is willing to go — given the Chancellor’s pledge not to increase VAT or income tax — will be a key variable. Currently, the Affordable Homes Programme provides grant funding to support the development of affordable housing in England. This allocated £11.5bn of capital funding over the five-year period spanning 2021-2026 is due to expire in 2026. It’s administered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (previously the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) under Angela Rayner’s purview as Secretary of State. 

Currently, the programme aims to deliver up to 162,000 new affordable homes across the country by providing funding and grants to eligible participants to build affordable homes for both ownership and rental tenures. These tenures include homes for social rent, affordable rent and affordable housing (including a majority of shared ownership) as well as supported housing, housing for rural areas and housing delivered through ‘Strategic Partnerships’ (usually being partnerships with local authorities). It will be interesting to see if the existing scheme is extended or an alternative is put forward.  

What does this announcement mean for the housing market? 

It's clear that the new Government wants to be seen to deliver. It has already started with some quick wins in the Chancellor’s first speech. As first speeches go, Rachel Reeves provided more detail and clarity than some of her predecessors but as the dust settles following the election, the devil will be in the details when they arrive. Some of the measures — such as the additional 300 planning officers and the review of green belt boundaries — are a good start, but will they be enough?  What other fiscal levers can be pulled will need to be delicately considered to ensure that no drastic unintended consequences will impact the housing market. 

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