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Angela Rayner has revealed her ambitious plans to build more houses in Britain, announcing a target of 370,000 new homes a year.
The new measures will see the vast majority of areas in the UK required to build more homes – some substantially.
A new planning framework has outlined exactly what housing targets every local area can be expected to meet. The document gives a strong indication of where new homes will be built as Labour works to meet it’s goal of 1.5 million over the next five years.
London’s housebuilding target will be slashed by 20,000, down to 80,000 new homes a year. Ms Rayner said the previous target of 100,000 was “absolute nonsense,” with it representing one-third of all new homes.
Instead, the targets will be raised almost everywhere else. The Midlands and North will see the biggest increases, which the Housing Department says is to “better reflect the growth ambitions” of the two regions.
Here’s how many more homes could be built in your area under Labour’s new plans:
The new housing targets have been decided using a revised formula, taking into account current housing stock, local need and affordability.
Areas in the North West, North East, Yorkshire and the West Midlands will be required to make the biggest rises. Redcar and Cleveland in North Yorkshire sees the largest, from a target of just 45 to 642.
Many of the new homes will be built on green belt land “strategically,” with Labour identifying areas of low-quality ‘grey belt’ land within it. This has been defined in the new framework as land that has previously been developed on, and does not serve the intended purpose green belt land.
This is primarily to prevent urban sprawl, as well as to stop towns merging into one another and to protect the countryside. Analysis shows that grey belt areas are mostly located just outside of metropolitan areas like Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and Stoke.
Several just outside of London will also likely see increased targets, with Buckinghamshire having one of the highest targets in the country at 4122 percent (although this is only a 45 per cent increase from before).
Ms Rayner says the government also intends for 50 per cent of all homes built in the green belt to be affordable housing. Speaking the parliament, the deputy prime minister said: “These are the right reforms for the decade of renewal the country so desperately needs.”
“We will achieve the biggest boost to affordable housing for a generation. And we will get Britain building to spur the growth that we need.”
The reforms have been largely welcomed by those in the housing sector. However, critics have pointed out that Labour’s new housing plans have actually slashed housebuilding targets in areas represented by several Cabinet MPs.
