Deputy Prime Minister on changes to national planning policy
A transcript of the Deputy Prime Minister's statement to the House on changes to national planning policy.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
And before I begin my statement, I know the whole House will join me in sending our deepest condolences – and strength in the hours ahead – to those affected by yesterday’s shocking incident in Southport.
And as a mother and grandmother, I can’t even begin to imagine the depth of pain and suffering of those involved.
And I’d like to echo the words of the Hon Member for Southport in thanking the police and emergency services for their swift response.
And our thoughts and prayers are with those who have already sadly lost loved ones, and are now fighting for their lives as well.
Mr Speaker, with your permission, I’ve come to the House to make a statement about this government’s plan to get Britain building.
Delivering economic growth is our number one mission.
It’s how we’ll raise living standards, for everyone, everywhere…
The only way we can fix our public services.
So, today I am setting out a radical plan to not only get the homes we desperately need.
But to also drive the growth, create jobs and breathe life back into our towns and cities.
We are ambitious.
And what I say won’t be without controversy.
But this is urgent.
Because this [political content removed] government is not afraid to take on the tough choices needed to deliver for our country.
Inheritance
Mr Speaker, we’re facing the most acute housing crisis in living memory.
150,000 children in temporary accommodation.
Nearly 1.3 million households on social housing waiting lists.
Under 30s less than half as likely to own their own home, compared to in the 1990s.
Rents are up 8.6% in the last year.
Total homelessness at record levels.
There are simply not enough homes.
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That the number of new homes is now likely to drop below 200,000 this year.
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Housing targets
So today, I’ll explain how [political content removed] will deliver the change needed to turbocharge growth and build more homes.
And I’ll start with housing targets.
Decisions about what to build should reflect local views.
But that should be about how to deliver new homes, not whether to.
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This [political content removed] government is taking the tough choices – putting people and country first.
For the first time we’ll make local housing targets mandatory…
Requiring local authorities to use the same method to work out how many homes to build.
But Mr Speaker, that alone is insufficient to meet our ambition.
So, we’re also changing the standard method used to calculate housing need.
So it better reflects the urgency on supply for local areas.
Rather than relying on outdated data, this new method will require local authorities to plan for homes proportionate to the size of existing communities.
And it will incorporate an uplift where house prices are most out of step with local incomes.
The collective total of these local targets will therefore rise from some 300,000 a year to just over 370,000 a year.
Now, some will find this uncomfortable.
And others will try to poke holes.
So, I’ll tackle the four arguments head on.
First - that we’re demanding too much from some places.
To this I say: we have a housing crisis; and a mandate for real change.
And we all must play our part.
Second – that some areas might appear to get a surprising target.
Well Mr Speaker, no method is perfect.
And the old one produced all sorts of odd outcomes.
Crucially, ours offers extra stability for local authorities.
Third – that we are lowering our ambition for London.
I’m clear, we’re doing no such thing.
That London had a nominal target of almost 100,000 homes a year – based on an arbitrary uplift - was absolute nonsense.
The adopted London Plan has a target of around 52,000.
And delivery in London last year was around 35,000.
The target we’re now setting for London – roughly 80,000 – is still a huge ask.
But I know it’s one the Mayor is determined to rise to, after meeting with him last week about this.
Fourth - some will say a total of 370,000 is not enough.
To this I say: ambition is critical, but we also need to be realistic.
Green Belt
I want to now move to the Green Belt.
If we have targets for what we need to build…
We next need to ensure we’re building in the right places.
The first port of call must be brownfield land.
We are making some changes today to support this.
But it’s only part of the answer, Mr Speaker.
This is why we must create a more strategic system for Green Belt release…
To make it work for the twenty-first century.
Local authorities will have to review their green belt if needed to meet housing targets.
But they’ll also need to prioritise low quality ‘grey belt’ land…
For which we are setting out a definition today.
And where land in the green belt is developed, new golden rules will require provision of 50% affordable housing…
With a focus on social rent.
As well as schools, GP surgeries and transport links that communities need.
And improvements to accessible green space.
And let’s not forget that it was the previous government’s haphazard approach to building on the Green Belt that has seen so many of the wrong homes built, in the wrong places, without local services that people need.
Under Labour, this will change.
Social and affordable
Now Mr Speaker, increasing supply is of course essential to improving affordability.
But we must also go further in building genuinely affordable homes.
And part of this must come from developers.
And the Housing Minister will be meeting with major developers later to ensure that they commit to matching our pace of reform.
But an active, mission-led government must also play its role.
This is why today, I’m calling on local authorities, housing associations and industry to work with me to deliver a council house revolution!
Mr Speaker, this isn’t just a nice add on.
It’s vital to getting the 1.5 million homes built.
Because we know that schemes with a large amount of affordable housing are likely to be completed faster.
And injecting confidence and certainty into social housing is how we get Britain back to building.
The previous government had to downgrade the number of new homes their Affordable Housing Programme would deliver.
And now today I can unveil that only between 110,000 and 130,000 affordable homes are due to be built under this programme.
Down from their original target of 180,000.
In our worse-case scenario, some 70,000 fewer families in need of a secure home will lose out, Mr Speaker.
How have they let that happen?
And once again it’s this government which will have to pick up the pieces.
This is why today I am announcing immediate steps for the biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation.
We will introduce more flexibilities in the current Affordable Homes Programme, working with Homes England.
And we’ll bring forward details of future government investment at the Spending Review.
I also recognise that councils and housing associations need support too.
So, my Rt Hon Friend the Chancellor will set out plans at the next fiscal event to give them the rent stability that they need to borrow and invest.
Well Mr Speaker, we must also maintain existing stock.
Which is why I am announcing important changes to Right to Buy:
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We have already started reviewing the increased right to buy discounts introduced in 2012.
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And we’ll consult in the autumn on wider reforms to Right to Buy.
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And we are immediately increasing flexibilities for councils when using Right to Buy receipts.
And in addition, to help councils provide homes for some of the most vulnerable in society…
I can also confirm today that the £450 million of the Local Authority Housing Fund will flow to them to provide 2,000 new homes.
This is what Labour does.
National infrastructure
Mr Speaker, these reforms are key to realising our wider growth ambitions.
Part of that comes from new homes themselves.
Releasing untapped potential of our towns and cities…
That for too long have been throttled by the insufficient and unaffordable housing.
But it also flows from making it easier to build the infrastructure on which we rely.
So, we’re making it easier to build laboratories, gigafactories, data centres and electricity grid connections.
And we must make it simpler and faster to build the clean energy sources needed to meet zero carbon energy generation by 2030.
We’ve already ended the de facto ban on onshore wind…
But we’re also proposing to:
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Bring large onshore wind projects back to the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects regime (NSIP)…
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Change the threshold for solar development to reflect developments in solar technology.
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And set a stronger expectation that authorities identify sites for renewable energy.
Local plans
To deliver all of this we need every local authority to have a development plan in place.
Up-to-date local plans are essential to ensuring that communities have a say in how development happens.
Areas with a local plan are less vulnerable to speculative developments through appeals.
And yet just a third of places have one that is under five years old.
This must change.
We will therefore fix this by:
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Ending constant changes and disruption to planning policy.
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Setting clear expectations of universal local plan coverage.
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And stepping in directly where local authorities let residents down.
Local plans ensure local engagement and are critical to making developments that have local people’s needs met.
But, in demanding more of others, we’re also going to demand more of ourselves.
Two weeks ago, I said that I will not hesitate to review an application where the potential economic gain warrants it.
So, today I can confirm that ministers and I will mark our own homework in public.
Reporting against the 13-week target for turning around ministerial decisions.
Future plans
Now Mr Speaker, I know what I’ve said seems like a lot.
But this is only our first step.
We plan to do so much more.
We’ll introduce a Planning and Infrastructure Bill that will:
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Reform planning committees so that they focus on the right applications, with the necessary expertise.
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Further reform compulsory purchase compensation rules so that what is paid to landowners is fair, but not excessive.
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Enable local authorities to put their planning departments on sustainable footings.
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Streamline the delivery process for critical infrastructure.
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And provide any legal underpinning that may be needed to ensure that nature recovery and building works hand-in-hand.
We’ll also take the steps needed for universal coverage of strategic planning within this Parliament…
…which we will work with local leaders to develop and formalise in legislation.
And shortly we’ll say more about our plan for the next generation of new towns.
And because we know that this crisis cannot be fixed overnight.
In the coming months, the government will publish a long-term housing strategy.
For how we will transform the housing market, so it delivers for working people.
These are the right reforms for the decade of renewal the country so desperately needs.
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This government will build 1.5 million homes that are high-quality, well-designed and sustainable.
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.
… And I commend this statement to the House!