The Labour government recommitted to its election manifesto pledge of building 1.5 million homes and said it would also decide 150 applications for infrastructure projects before the next general election.
These were among six ‘milestones’ announced by prime minister Keir Starmer in a set-piece speech in Buckinghamshire yesterday (5 December).
He said: ‘Mission-led government means doing things differently, and a decade of national renewal will require the skills and determination of us all.’
Meanwhile deputy prime minister Angela Rayner said decisions on ‘vital infrastructure’ had been ‘unnecessarily delayed’ in the past year.
She added: ‘Our Plan for Change will stop this and drive real improvements in the lives of working people.
‘We’re already taking decisive action by transforming the planning system and bringing forward the biggest boost in social and affordable housing in a generation, and alongside this uplift in infrastructure, we will unlock long-term economic prosperity for every part of the country.’
The government said, during the previous Parliament under the Conservatives, just 57 decisions on big civils schemes were made. It added that it would simplify the consenting process for major infrastructure projects.
Meanwhile, the forthcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill will pave the way for critical schemes to be delivered more quickly and easily by removing planning red tape, according to ministers.
Over the summer, Rayner set out reforms that included reintroducing mandatory housing targets and asking local authorities to earmark sites for housing within the so-called ‘grey belt’ – less useful or environmentally friendly sections of urban development buffers.
But a think-tank report this week warned that even if housebuilding hit post-war highs in all regions of England, the 1.5 million homes target was likely to be missed.
Melanie Leech, chief executive of developer body the British Property Federation, described the government’s Plan for Change as ‘a welcome statement of its housing, infrastructure and planning ambitions’.
She added: ‘The government has gripped the nettle of planning reform in ensuring each local council has a local plan in place, which is welcome. If we are to deliver 1.5 million homes, however, further measures will be necessary, to increase the pool of skilled labour, upscale the materials we need to build homes and ensure more land, including public land, is available for housing delivery.
‘Hand-in-hand, there will need to be funding, both access to mortgages, but also public and private investment in affordable and market rental housing.
‘The government will need to be bold, for example providing a truly long-term rent settlement would attract more private sector investment into affordable housing. We look forward to supporting the government’s commitment to get more homes funded and built.’