Boosting supply: What does Labour need to do to fulfil their manifesto commitments?

What does Labour want? 

Labour have pledged to ‘get Britain building again’ and to build 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament and recognise that the housing crisis is well known to be one of the country’s biggest barriers to growth. 

What needs to happen to meet this ambition?

Housebuilding targets 

Labour have already set out some plans to help meet this target. They pledge to: 

• Restore mandatory housing targets 

• Take tough action to ensure that planning authorities have up-to-date Local Plans 

• Strengthen the presumption in favour of sustainable development. 

The manifesto recognises the need to balance the rights of local communities continue to shape housebuilding in their area with the need to ensure that enough housing is built overall – stating that but “where necessary Labour will not be afraid to make full use of intervention powers to build the houses we need.”   

They want to work in partnership with local leaders and communities, to build a new generation of new towns alongside urban extensions and regeneration. To do this, they plan to introduce new mechanisms for cross-boundary strategic planning and require all Combined and Mayoral Authorities to strategically plan for housing growth in their areas. They will give Combined Authorities new planning powers along with new freedoms and flexibilities on using grant funding. 

The Housing Forum welcomes these strong proposals for pushing forward higher rates of housebuilding. Housing targets are vital for upping the game in local authority delivery, and ensuring they all help build the housing that is needed. To ensure that momentum is maintained: 

• The new Government should ensure housing is at the heart of decision-making within cabinet and work across departments to make housing a top 5 Government priority.  

• Councils must have strong incentives to meet targets, including requiring a five-year land supply, and increasing infrastructure funding to areas meeting or exceeding their targets.  

Where to build 

In terms of where to build, Labour propose a brownfield-first approach, prioritising the development of previously used land wherever possible, and fast-tracking approval of urban brownfield sites. However, the manifesto also notes that “brownfield development alone will not be enough to meet our housing need”. They therefore propose a more strategic approach to greenbelt land designation and say that they want to prioritise the release of lower quality ‘grey belt’ land with ‘golden rules’ used to ensure development benefits communities and nature. These include a target of 50% of new housing on greenbelt sites being affordable, and a requirement that it also includes infrastructure, green spaces and improved biodiversity.  

The Housing Forum is pleased to see this focus on reviewing greenbelts in areas where the existing greenbelt boundaries may be constraining the ability to build housing where it is most needed. This may involve building on brownfield sites within greenbelts and/or moving greenbelts further out to allow cities to grow. It is important not to focus only on the previous use of land, but also on the areas that are strategically sensible to build on.  

We welcome the proposal for increased affordable housing requirements on greenbelt sites, and would recommend that: 

• The government should incentivise building on brownfield sites, with flexible and long-term funding where required to make this viable, and support for public and private sector partnerships to bring these sites forward. 

Resourcing the planning system 

Labour have recognised that under-resourcing of local planning authorities is a cause of slowness in the planning system and commit to fund 300 additional planning officers. 

The Housing Forum agrees that our planning system is stressed, under-performing and plagued by uncertainty on the future direction. This is acting as a barrier to the pace of delivery. It inhibits badly needed smaller developers from entering the market and dampens investment. Very few planning applications are processed within statutory deadlines and local authorities are light on resources and expertise. We are unclear how the government proposes to ensure that additional funding for planning officers is used as intended, because funding for planning departments is not ring-fenced. We also think there is more that could be done to address the difficulties here: 

• The Government should better resource the planning system by improving recruitment and retention, and elevating the status of planners, underpinned by a strong performance monitoring system.  

• Decisions on minor planning applications and on reserved matters consents should be delegated to professional planning officers. 

The voices of people who need housing, or who will live in housing that’s yet to be built, go unheard in debates around housebuilding. They need to be heard alongside those who volunteer their views from within existing communities when making local plans or determining planning applications. This entails a broader and more considered approach to community consultation.  

Planning needs to rebuild its role in place-making and focus on design quality. Investment in infrastructure is essential to bring forward larger sites and address concerns of local residents. 

Our report on Streamlining planning to build more homes providers further details and suggestions on how to increase the capacity of local planning authorities.  

Balancing the needs of the environment and the need for new homes 

Labour’s manifesto recognises that over 100,000 homes with planning consent are currently stalled because of rules around nutrient neutrality. They pledge to implement solutions to unlock the building of homes affected by nutrient neutrality without weakening environmental protections. 

The Housing Forum is concerned that these aspirations to unblock the new homes currently stalled by nutrient neutrality rules lack detail on the proposed solutions.  

• The Government should pass legislation to tackle nutrient pollution at source and remove the rules that prevent housebuilding in areas at risk. The Environment Agency should be empowered – and expected – to tackle the issue of pollution from farming and poor wastewater management. 

It is important that in the future, new environmental protections are not implemented without the operational details being worked out with measures being taken to ensure they do not adversely affect housing supply. This will require effective cross-departmental working. 

Share News Article

• Twitter
• Linkedin