Keir Starmer has warned local leaders that he will not hesitate to overrule them if they attempt to “dodge their responsibilities” in approving new homes, amid growing concerns among wildlife groups and councils over his plans for a housing revolution.
The prime minister has placed a pledge to build 1.5m new homes in England by the next election at the heart of his government’s plans.
Senior figures in his team are now focused on trying to deliver tangible improvements to the country to make a credible case for re-election. They also want to show he is taking on what they see as vested interests opposing housebuilding.
Ministers will this week vow to overhaul planning rules as part of the government’s pledge, handing local mayors and leaders more powers in the process.
Speaking to the Observer, however, the prime minister said more powers meant “more responsibilities” and that he would not allow local leaders to stand in the way of his building overhaul.
“With our reforms, we’re pushing power back into communities so they can build their own futures and make their own decisions about what’s best for them,” he said. “With our new rules, mayors will have greater planning authority to make decisions that boost local growth and housebuilding so communities can shape their own future.
“But where local leaders dodge their responsibilities for deciding where and how homes should be built, and needlessly oppose developments that would provide good homes, we won’t be afraid to step in. More powers, more responsibilities.”
Starmer’s remarks come in the wake of his “plan for change” speech last week in which his team attempted to hone the government’s programme into more accessible targets designed to focus attention in Whitehall.
He also ridiculed a system that led to the HS2 high-speed rail network having to set aside more than £100m for a shed to protect bats.
But his comments were made amid concerns from local councils across England, including Labour-run administrations, that proposed housebuilding targets imposed on them may not be realistic.
Labour-run Broxtowe council in Nottinghamshire described the plan as “very challenging, if not impossible to achieve”. Another Labour-run council in South Tyneside said the plans were “wholly unrealistic”.
Meanwhile, a letter to Starmer signed by nature groups including the RSPB wildlife conservation charity, the National Trust, the Wildlife Trusts and Greenpeace warns him that they were “dismayed and disappointed to hear your attack on environmental regulations and regulators”.
“Environmental planning rules play a vital role in protecting wildlife, stopping pollution, and in ensuring that a healthy environment is for everyone, not just a privilege for those who can afford it,” the letter states. “The rules can be improved, but they are not the problem.
“The regulators that uphold the rules have been slowed down by a decade of cuts and political interference. They should be supported, not vilified. We want to work with you to speed up planning. We need ambitious reform to ensure the planning system works better for nature, too. But deregulation is not the answer.”
Starmer, however, insisted that “outdated planning laws” had to be tackled.
“We’re going to rebuild this nation from the ground up, but we can’t do that without reform,” he said. “It is central to this government’s agenda. Starting with sweeping changes to the national planning policy framework which will begin to remove the obstacles towards this government’s goal of building 1.5m houses in this parliament. That’s an ambitious goal – so we can’t let anything slow us down.
“It’s common sense – if we want good houses, transport and energy supplies, we have to build them. There is no other way. To anyone willing to engage in finding practical, workable solutions and reforms – we will work in partnership with you.
“But the government is not afraid to take on vested interests and break down the barriers that prevent action while working people are paying the price. This is the end of the ‘can’t be done’ culture that has held Britain back for too long.”
Senior Labour figures and MPs are desperate for Starmer to learn the lessons from Kamala Harris’s failed US presidential campaign by ensuring the party focuses on a small number of issues that they believe will make a real difference to people’s lives.
Writing in the Observer today, Deborah Mattinson, Starmer’s former policy chief, warns that Donald Trump successfully painted Harris as too focused on “woke” issues and out of touch with swing voters. “There is food for thought for the new Labour administration, too,” Mattinson writes in an article co-written with the prime minister’s former director of policy Claire Ainsley.
“Labour must continue to channel its powerful change message in government, reflecting the anti-establishment mood that now exists both sides of the Atlantic. It must be prepared – enthusiastic even – about disrupting rather than defending old, tired institutions.
“That work started last week with the launch of Starmer’s ‘plan for change’, with its powerful emphasis on working people being better off, but there remains much to do.”
