According to their manifesto, published in the run-up to the election, Labour has pledged to deliver 1.5 million new homes throughout its run in parliament.
The party say they will achieve this by:
- Reinstating mandatory housing targets
- Strengthening presumptions in favour of sustainable development
- Funding additional planning officers
- Reforming the planning system
Labour’s manifesto states that they are keeping a brownfield-first approach whilst also taking on a more strategic approach to greenbelt land designation and prioritising the release of ‘grey belt’ land. The grey belt is a new class of land consisting of green belt areas designated as low quality. They have ruled out building on ‘genuine nature spots’, and developers should include improvements to existing green spaces in their plans. Labour has also put forward the idea of a ‘planning passport’ for urban brownfield development, giving fast-track approval for developments on these sites.
Before election day, Rightmove spoke to Labour Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook to ask about the party’s plans for the housing market in case of victory.
According to him, Labour is committed to changing the currently convoluted planning system as soon as possible. He said: “Our immediate focus would be to reform the planning system, starting with updating the National Planning Policy Framework.
“Other measures include finally getting serious about boosting Local Plan coverage, building a series of large-scale new communities, including a new generation of new towns; further reforming outdated compulsory purchase compensation rules that inflate the cost of land to the benefit of speculators, reintroducing cross-boundary strategic planning, and adopting a strategic approach to greenbelt land designation and release to build more homes in the right places.
“We are confident that the targeted series of interventions we have outlined will enable us to ramp up supply, tackle the housing crisis and boost economic growth.”
