The UK Government has stated its ambition to oversee the largest post-war house building programme in England, creating large scale developments to deliver hundreds of thousands of new, high-quality homes by 2050.
Supporting strong communities
As well as finding the right locations for new communities to be built, the Taskforce will agree the principles and standards for good-quality places, explore new ways to attract funding and investment, and find practical solutions to planning barriers that block delivery.
The intention is that each site will provide at least 10,000 new properties, and many of them are expected to be urban extensions or redevelopments of existing places. This approach will help to ensure that the new communities benefit from the infrastructure, amenities and services to support them.
Faster planning processes must prioritise infrastructure
Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the Rt. Hon Michael Gove, MP, has announced the publication of a new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) today, 19 December 2023. Reaffirming the UK Government’s commitment to building homes across England, he promised to take action against councils that miss deadlines to submit their housing plans.
Wider plans to change the housing picture
In the run up to the last general election, the Labour Party positioned itself as the party of home ownership, aspiring to reach an ownership rate of 70%, and committed to delivering the biggest boost in affordable and social housing for a generation. There is also a focus on reforming the planning system to speed up the building of their targeted 1.5m homes, making use of disused ‘grey belt’ land, and reintroducing compulsory local housing targets.
The UK Government has been clear that affordable, social, and council houses are a fundamental part of ensuring decent homes for all, stating they want to return social housing to the second largest form of tenure in the UK.
Brownfield planning policy must promote quality homes
Propertymark is encouraging the UK Government to explore all viable methods of increasing the delivery of homes, however, the approach must not lose sight of the importance of creating decent homes that people want to buy in the places they want to live. In our consultation response to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) we suggest improvements to their proposals that will help avoid unintended consequences.
