Deputy leader of the opposition Angela Rayner announced Labour’s plan for housing, including a New Towns Code, apart of a planned 1.5m new homes built over five years
Speaking at the UK’s Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF) event in Leeds today(21st May), shadow housing secretary and deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner announced that Labour is setting a 40% target of affordable housing as part of the New Towns Code.
In her speech, Rayner identified “around 8.5m people with some kind of unmet housing need,” and that the planning system has become “gummed up”.
She went on to say that “getting applications over the line can be like swimming through treacle and it’s absolutely right that local people get a say, but a failing system is not in the local or national interest.
“Fewer than 70,000 planning applications were approved in the last quarter of 2023, the worst period on record, with fewer developments green-lit than during the height of the pandemic.”
Part of Labour’s plans for answering the UK’s housing crisis is a wave of new settlements of housing with amenities and transport connections, which will adhere to the ‘New Towns Code’.
The New Towns Code will require:
More social and affordable homes – with a gold standard aim of 40 per cent
Buildings with character, in tree-lined streets that fit in with nearby areas
Design that pays attention to local history and identity
Planning fit for the future, with good links to town and city centres
Guaranteed public transport and public services, from doctors’ surgeries to schools
And access to nature, parks, and places for children to play
Labour’s wider housing policy- should they win in the general election due this year- was reportedly inspired “from the 1945 Labour Government”. Rayner’s speech indicated it would include:
Reintroducing local housing targets and empowering regional and local leaders to deliver
Establishing an “expert independent taskforce” to identify hosuing sites and projects to be delivered in the first 12 months of Government
Banning no faults evicitons- “no ifs no buts”- and giving first-time buyers “first dibs” on new developments in their communities, as well as a comprehensive mortgage guarantee scheme
Ending the “medieval” leasehold system
And developing new policies for planting trees, restoring habitats and aiding wildlife
RTPI: A well resourced planning system will be integral to success
Victoria Hills, chief executive of the RTPI, said: “New Towns demonstrate how a better resourced planning system has supported housing delivery more proactively in the past and could help to fix our nation’s housing crisis in future.
“However, if an incoming Government wants to hit the ground running, they’d do well to utilise the existing substantial powers and levers and invest in well-resourced planning teams. Speed is of the essence but so is the need to deliver homes that are well designed, meet net zero requirements, are connected to jobs and transport, and are adequately served by public services. This requires comprehensive master planning that our members stand ready to deliver.
“Development Corporations and Councils will need the support of expert planners to put this New Towns Code into practice and to ensure new communities, regeneration schemes, and urban extensions are built promptly.
“A stronger devolved framework for strategic planning, championed by Mayors, would also be needed to realise the full value of new investments and infrastructure improvements delivered alongside homes and make space for places to continue growing.”
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