Starmer pledges to push on with housebuilding “from day one” as party targets 1.5m homes
Labour will make at least three major housing announcements within a fortnight of the party forming a government.
The party, which is widely expected to win a sizeable majority in Thursday’s general election, is expected to move quickly on its manifesto pledges.
Angela Rayner will reportedly announce a housebuilding program in the party’s second week in power.
Labour will by the third week write to councils to tell them to start regularly reviewing their green belt boundaries to ensure they are hitting housing targets. The intention is that councils will identify green belt land that can be reclassified for development.
The party has pledged to prioritize the release of lower quality green belt land, which it is terming the ‘grey belt’, as part of its plan to build 1.5m homes over five years.
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Before the end of July, the party will publish a draft national planning policy framework, reimposing local housing targets in a bid to ensure that councils are meeting local needs. The current Conservative government effectively removed mandatory down local targets in 2022 by allowing councils to instead use them as a “starting point”, with more flexibility to depart from them depending on local circumstances.
Starmer, in a joint interview with the Sunday Times with shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, promised to “hit the ground running” on boosting housebuilding from “day one”.
On the green belt, Reeves said “We all know that there is building on greenfield [sites] today, but it’s chaotic.
“We also know there are different types of green belt land. Just because something’s designated ‘green belt’ does not mean it’s green.”
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The party is also set to announce a recruitment drive for 300 planning officers, to help speed planning approvals along with details of a “first dibs” scheme, prioritizing new homes for residents to make it harder for properties to be sold to overseas investors.
Labour’s pledge of 1.5m homes over the five-year parliament echoes the Conservative’s 2019 manifesto pledge of building 300,000 homes a year. However, the Conservatives haven’t met this pledge, with just 234,400 net additions to the housing stock in 2022/23. Housing Today’s A Fair Deal for Housing campaign has called on ministers to re-commit to 300,000 homes a year with a plan of action.
