A Labour government would reintroduce mandatory housebuilding targets for local authorities, the leader of the opposition has said.
Last year, the government abandoned a manifesto pledge to build 300,000 new homes a year by scrapping mandatory housebuilding targets for local authorities, making them advisory instead following a rebellion by several back bench MPs including former environment minister, Theresa Villiers.
A pledge to build 300,000 homes a year was part of the 2019 Conservative manifesto, a target which levelling up secretary, Michael Gove, committed himself to.
Speaking to Sky’s Sophy Ridge, Sir Keir Starmer said Labour would “get the target back” but would also look to “take on planning laws, make sure local authorities have greater powers to decide where the housing will be in their patch and make sure we have vehicles for delivery” such as more housing and development corporations.
Sir Keir added, “having your own house is hugely important for security” and that is why “people dream, aspire to have their own house”. The Labour leader said “that dream has been killed by the prime minister, because he took down the targets”.
Estate agents could be banned from selling new builds to homeowners
I feel a big yawn coming on.
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As I have said before it’s mainly housing developers that build houses not Government or local authorities. The Government can decree a target and all hapless local authorities can do is offer up land to be built on but unless its land the developers want to build on (greenbelt in posher areas) and the economic circumstances are right (plenty of money around) they won’t build and nobody can force them to. Even if they do build (and 40% of sites don’t get built on), they drip feed the market to keep prices high, why not they are commercial companies after all. If Central Government want affordable housing for the people in the low wage economy they have created to buy or rent they must build it themselves in conjunction with local authorities but somehow this has never sunk in.
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