Articles today in The Times and Financial Times have claimed the Government has neglected housing and that the planning system is adversely affecting the delivery of new homes.
This fails to recognise the Government’s record of delivery and reforms to the planning system.
It is a key manifesto commitment to build 1 million homes over the course of this Parliament and we are on track to deliver this target thanks to our Long Term-Plan for Housing.
Since 2010, over 2.5 million additional homes have been delivered, with the four highest annual rates of housing supply over the past 30 years all coming since 2018. There is more to do, but this record clearly shows a Government that is delivering its promise to build more homes. We are unwavering in our commitment to drive up housing supply across the country, backed by investment of £10 billion.
Just last month the Housing Secretary published the updated National Planning Policy Framework. This was part of a major intervention in the planning system to boost performance and hold poorly performing council planning departments to account, whose delays have held up house building in their area.
The Government is on the side of the builders not the blockers and we are clear councils must play their part to deliver the homes this country needs, without concreting over the countryside.
This builds on the £42.5 million already announced by the Department for Levelling Up to tackle planning backlogs and speed up decision making.
It also sits alongside the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act that will speed up the planning system, hold developers to account, cut bureaucracy and encourage more councils to put local plans in place.
The major planning intervention comes after the Housing Secretary set out the Long-Term Plan for Housing in July last year. This outlined a new era of regeneration, inner-city densification and housing delivery across England, including ambitious plans to deliver thousands of homes in the heart of Cambridge, Leeds and London, and £13.5 million to establish a new ‘super-squad’ of planners to support large scale projects.
The Government will continue to deliver the new homes this country needs right across the country, through a planning system that is conducive and not obstructive to development.