Labour's Ambitious Plans For Home Building

Odds are that Labour will take over the running of the country after next year’s General Election, with Kier Starmer sharing the party's thinking on housing policy at this week's party conference.

Starmer says there will be “a decade of national renewal” if his party is elected. We will “get Britain building”, he told the conference, “unleashing a big build that ensures the winner this time will be working people, everywhere.” The stated ambition is to build 1.5 million new homes over five years.

Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves (a former Bank of England economist) has pledged to overhaul the “antiquated” planning regime, including recruiting 300 new planners for local authorities to help manage the workload and get more homes built.

Additional payroll and costs would be funded by an additional Stamp Duty surcharge for overseas property buyers – raising the charge from 2% to 3%. The aim of the increase would be to raise revenue rather than to dissuade foreign buyers, she explains.

The main thrust of Labour’s planning agenda seems to be on big infrastructure projects – making it easier to build wind turbines, solar farms, battery factories and electricity pylons, and to protect developers from “vexatious” legal challenges. Net zero goals will be “hard-wired” into the system, says Reeves, and local communities would be offered “sweeteners” such as discounts on energy bills to offset the impact of major infrastructure building in their area.

The Shadow Chancellor has promised “a government siding with the builders not the blockers. A government that will get Britain building again.”

Starmer has also weighed-in on building design, suggesting support for the ideas in the current government’s “building beautiful” agenda that idealises Georgian-style architecture. Property developments that adhere to “gentle urban development” standards would receive “stronger presumption in favour of permission”, he says.

Developers could be given “planning passports” to bring forward projects on brownfield land if they meet the new design standards.

National planning policy statement would be updated “within six months” of Labour moving into Downing Street.

Summarising all this, Reeves declared that “it is now beyond doubt: It is Labour that is the party of homeownership.”

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