(Bloomberg) -- Labour plans to “overhaul” the planning system in order to meet its commitment of 1.5 million new homes being built in the UK over five years, deputy prime minister Angela Rayner wrote in the Telegraph.
Rayner, who’s also housing secretary, said she’ll reinstate mandatory housing targets scrapped by the previous Conservative government, under changes to the National Planning Policy Framework.
Councils must “play their full part” in building new homes, Rayner wrote.
“We will overhaul local planning committees, allowing planning officers to make more decisions to speed up the approvals process,” she wrote. Developers should be provided with greater certainty, while being subjected to “democratic scrutiny”.
“We expect every area to adopt a plan to meet their housing need,” she wrote. “A secure home is the foundation of a better life.”
In a “Plan for Change” speech made last week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the current planning mechanism a “chokehold” on growth.
Rayner said the Labour government will “unlock” £700 million ($892 million) in government funding through the Home Building Fund to support small and medium-sized housebuilders over the next year, to help them deliver up to 12,000 new homes.
Rayner hit the Sunday talk-show circuit to promote her plans. She told Sky News that local authorities have been told it will be “compulsory” for them to have a local plan to meet the housing targets. That means counselors and local people will decide what the general plan is for their area, while planning will be streamlined. Developers will have to follow that plan, she said.
Rayner also said that the government will cut the number of “subjective” reasons that people can use to object to house building, including objections made on environmental grounds.
“We can’t have a situation where a newt is more protected than people who desperately need housing,” she told Sky. “Protect the nature and wildlife, but not at the expense of people who need housing.”
Responding to Rayner’s plans, Conservative MP Kevin Hollinrake said the minister had “failed to answer basic questions on the viability of Labour’s house building target.”
“Without a plan for migration the government doesn’t know what housing will be needed where, how and when,” said Hollinrake, the Shadow Secretary for Housing.
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