Keir Starmer insisted building more homes is more important than the environment today as he vowed to rip up the ‘broken’ planning system.
The PM said he would prioritise ‘human beings wanting to have a house’ as he joined his deputy Angela Rayner unveiling a radical overhaul of the rules.
The changes – designed to prevent so-called ‘Nimbys’ blocking development – could see hundreds of thousands of acres of Green Belt land redesignated as low-value ‘grey belt’ land.
As the government scrambles to generate 1.5million new homes by the next election, the new framework will also impose mandatory housing numbers on local authorities across the country – many of which have already been condemned as unachievable.
The government released estimates of the targets for local areas in the summer, which are set to be confirmed in documents published later.
Those projections included comparisons to existing targets under the current method, first introduced in 2018, as well as the average number of new homes that have actually been built in recent years.
In Fareham, Labour’s new method would require the local Tory-controlled council to build 794 new houses – up from a target of 498 when calculated by the current method.
That was nearly seven times the average number of new homes built in the Hampshire town – where Tory ex-home secretary Suella Braverman is the local MP – in 2020/21 and 2022/23 of just 115.
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Keir Starmer said he would prioritise ‘human beings wanting to have a house’ as he joined his deputy Angela Rayner unveiling a radical overhaul of the rules
Angela Rayner and Keir Starmer (pictured at a building site in Cambridgeshire today) are unveiling the planning changes
The PM and his deputy toured the building project as they highlighted the development drive
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Asked on a visit to a construction site in Cambridgeshire this morning whether he would tackle the problem of habitat and environmental regulations stopping developers, Sir Keir said: ‘The starting point is local plans, and that’s really important for councils to develop the plan according to the target, taking into account local need and working with developers.
‘But are we going to push it through if those plans don’t work? Yes we absolutely are.
‘Are we going to push away the planning rules and make them clearer, as we have done today, get away the blockers that are stopping the houses being built? Yes, we are absolutely intent.
‘For years, we have had not enough houses being built. That means that individuals and families don’t have the security that they want.
‘We are determined to break through that, to do what’s necessary.
‘Of course we want to get the balance right with nature and the environment, but if it comes to a human being wanting to have a house for them and their family, that has to be the top priority.’
But shadow housing minister Kevin Hollinrake said that Labour’s housing plans would amount to ‘bulldozing’ green belt sites.
He told Sky News: ‘We’re not against building more homes. So we agree with those parts of the plan. What we disagree with is bulldozing greenfield, green belt sites. That’s what we’ll see. We’ll see many of these homes delivered in rural areas, yet a lowering of targets in urban areas, particularly London.’
Portsmouth City Council could be told to build 1,098 new homes under Labour’s new target, up from 897 using the current method.
Just 132 new homes have actually been built there, on average, in recent years.
North Yorkshire could be ordered to build 4,232 new homes.
That is up from the 1,361 homes under the current target, although an average of 3,150 new homes were built annually across 2020/21 and 2022/23.
Cornwall could be told to build 4,454 homes under Labour’s target, up from 2,707 using the current method and more than the 2,681 homes built, on average, in recent years.
The Isle of Wight could be told to build more than double the average number of new homes it achieved in those two years (499) under a proposed new target of 1,104.
Overall, the South East might be required to build almost 70,000 new homes a year under the proposed new method for determining housing targets.
This was up from 51,251 under the current method and second only to London (80,693) under the proposed new method.
It was higher than the East of England (45,858), South West (40,343), North West (37,817), West Midlands (31,754), East Midlands (27,382), Yorkshire and The Humber (27,433), and North East (12,202).
One expert claimed the Green Belt overhaul could free up space for 2.5 million homes.
That sparked warning that the changes will trigger a new wave of ‘urban sprawl’ – which the designation was meant to avoid.
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The Deputy PM revealed the collective total for local targets would be just over 370,000 homes a year – as she bids to deliver 1.5million new homes over the next five years
The move reverses the last Tory government’s decision to drop targets after deciding they were counterproductive.
Councillors on planning committees will be stripped of the right to block individual developments if they conform to planning guidelines.
Ministers will also gain new powers to bypass the normal planning process on key infrastructure – such as prisons and the electricity pylons that link new wind and solar farms to the grid.
Today’s package will provide £100 million to councils to help them update their plans and assess which areas of their local green belt should be released for development.
Ahead of the announcement, Ms Rayner said the reforms were needed to boost growth and hit Labour’s target of building 1.5 million new homes over the next five years, and that ministers were ready to ‘do what it takes’ to fix the housing crisis.
