There is a sense among some that Labour is 'keeping it's powder dry' on housing and planning so as 'not to scare the horses', but actually, when you compile everything that has been put into the public domain, the future direction of policy is relatively easy to discern. This is that compilation, which takes in a couple of press releases (and, importantly, the 'notes to editors'), a policy paper, an extract from a Westminster Hall debate, and Sunday Times and FT articles.
‘How’, not ‘if’: Labour will jump start planning to build 1.5 million homes and save the dream of homeownership
Oct 10, 2023
Labour’s Housing Recovery Plan
Upon entering office, the Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Angela Rayner, will publish a Written Ministerial Statement and write to all Chief Planning Officers to instruct local planning authorities to approve planning applications in areas which do not have a local plan and fail other key policy tests, such as the Housing Delivery Test.
This Statement will also signpost changes to the National Planning Policy Framework which will reverse concessions the Government made to Tory backbenchers in December 2022, reinstate and enforce compulsory local targets.
The Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced they would increase planning capacity – ensuring every local authority has at least one full time, experienced planning officer and expanding the government’s strategic planning capacity for housing and infrastructure – funded by increasing stamp duty on overseas buyers.
Where local authorities don’t meet their requirements, a Labour government would work with the Planning Inspectorate to use all powers available to build homes, with interventions ranging from mediation to worst case scenarios that may require use of ‘call-in’ powers or see local planning authorities designated.
As announced by Angela Rayner, increasing flexibility in the Affordable Homes Programme so Homes England can support build out of the increasing number of ‘stalled’ sites with planning permission, but that are no longer viable due to soaring interest rates and economic uncertainty.
As well as clearing the backlog, Labour will reform the system to accelerate planning permissions while strengthening local consent on ‘how’ developments can best support local communities, not ‘if’ the homes that people need are built at all. This will put the local plan front and centre in the planning system and create a genuinely plan-led system.
Labour will strengthen the presumption in favour of developments that are aligned to local plans, with a lighter touch process for approval in line with plans and, where criteria are met, a strong community right to appeal against off-plan and speculative development.
We will increase transparency, monitoring and enforcement of requirements to maintain up to date local plans with fixed timelines for renewing local plan. We will also introduce a ‘backstop’ option allowing central government or the Planning Inspectorate to draw up local plans where they are significantly and egregiously delayed.
Under our new streamlined system we will lowering the thresholds for applications being made directly to the Planning Inspectorate to reflect the fact that decision making should be smoother.
We will give planning officers stronger authority to grant permission on smaller sites that are in line with the plan, without referring to the planning committee, and define in guidance that pre-application advice by officers is a material consideration to the planning decision, and a ‘cooling off’ period where Members go against officers’ recommendations.
We will provide guidance on off-the-shelf environmental mitigations which cut down on endless surveys and halt the vexatious frustration of applications.
In addition to increasing planning capacity by raising stamp duty on overseas buyer,
Labour will accelerate the government’s plan to increase planning application fees, and potentially going further, with revenue ringfenced for more planning resource.
We will also make HM Land Registry data publicly available to increase transparency of land ownership, preventing landowners from holding a de facto veto over local plans due to an opaque land market.
Notes to editors
Labour’s 5-point Housing Recovery Plan in short:
Reversing changes to the National Planning Policy Framework announced in December 2022, reinstating compulsory local targets, strengthening requirements to maintain a deliverable supply of housing land and the presumption in favour of sustainable development.
A Written Ministerial Statement with legal force strengthening requirements to approve homes, stating we expect authorities without up-to-date plans and if they fail key policy tests.
Intervening where local authorities don’t meet our expectations, ranging from mediation with the Planning Inspectorate, to use of ‘call-in’ and designation powers.
As announced by the Shadow Chancellor, increasing capacity of LPAs, hiring hundreds of new planners to agree local plans, paid for by increasing tax on purchase of residential property by foreign buyers, and greater use of Planning
Performance Agreements on large sites.
As announced by Angela Rayner, increasing flexibility in the Affordable Homes Programme so Homes England can support build out of ‘stalled’ sites with planning permission with more social and affordable housing, and reforms to the Section 106 agreements.
Next generation of new towns.
A Labour government will build on our proud post-war history and bring forward the next generation of new towns for the next generation of homeowners.
Our new towns will be vibrant new communities, with beautiful homes, green
spaces, reliable transport links and bustling high streets.
The Secretary of State for Levelling-up, Housing and Communities will publish a set of principles for identifying sites, looking for areas that are around busy transport hubs, in areas of very high housing need and avoiding nature spots or important green spaces.
We will open bidding for local leaders to bid for sites on the basis of these principles.
We will also task DLHUC with devising some broad ‘heat maps’ of areas suitable based on these principles, using the latest spatial data from across different departments and agencies.
Within six months, we will work in partnership with local leaders to designate a handful of sites across the country for development as new towns.
We will designate New Town Development Corporations for these sites, with equal representation from local government and central government.
The development corporation will take on planning powers for the site and will also have the power to compulsorily purchase land with limited ‘hope’ value.
In many areas, permissioned land can be worth hundreds of times more than agricultural land, and like previous new towns, it’s the combination of these powers that allow for significant land value capture to fund delivery of infrastructure and housing.
We will require our new towns to actively seek private sector investors, with the vast majority of the up-front investment coming private backers.
They will be attractive investment products, generating stable and diverse income streams; sales of freeholds, rental income from housing, residential and commercial ground rents and public transport fares.
Early infrastructure delivery may require some support from existing government programmes and we would expect development corporations to bid from existing budgets and programmes, such as the UK Infrastructure Bank.
‘Fast track’ Brownfield provision.
We are proposing a series of changes to national planning policy to accelerate and intensify brownfield development in our cities, building on the ‘brownfield first’ policy introduced by New Labour.
This includes:
A new National Development Management Policy (NDMP) to supplement existing national policy prioritising brownfield development, requiring local plans to set density standards for appropriate sites around transport notes, with stronger presumptions in favour of brownfield development where plans are not up to date.
A new requirement to update brownfield registers annually and make them publicly available, helping investors quickly identify opportunities for long-term regeneration.
Accelerating approval for smaller brownfield sites, with councils required to allocate smaller brownfield sites and exploring ‘permission in principle’ if these sites have high levels of affordable housing.
‘Opportunity areas’ for long term regeneration, giving clear signals to investors about complex sites identified for regeneration in areas with Strategic Development Frameworks.
Redirect Homes England to unlock complex sites, supported by Metro Mayors.
Labour will help first-time buyers onto the ladder with a new, comprehensive mortgage guarantee scheme and ‘first dibs’ on newly built homes.
Labour will introduce a state-backed mortgage insurance scheme, with the state acting as guarantor for prospective homeowners who struggle to save for a large deposit. This will be modelled on similar successful schemes in other countries, such as Canada and Australia.
Numerous analyses have found a large group of middle-income renters in stable employment who are locked out of homeownership and stuck in expensive rented accommodation. Banks are now requesting very large deposits, with government’s own analysis showing saving for a deposit is “the largest hurdle for most prospective home buyers.”
We will also ensure that first-time buyers can access homes that are built, by giving them first dibs on small portions of new developments in some areas.
Labour will introduce a renters’ charter to make renting safe, secure and affordable
Labour will introduce a new renters charter to make renting safer, securer and more affordable. The charter will include: longer-term tenancies as standard, the right to reasonable alterations, ending Section 21 and introducing a national register of landlords.
Planning Reform
Volume 747: debated on Wednesday 13 March 2024
Matthew Pennycook:
Where we respectfully part ways with the right hon. Member for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland is on the issue of whether the post-war discretionary planning system is beyond redemption. As the right hon. Gentleman made clear in his remarks, he firmly believes that it is, and that it should be replaced by a zonal planning system of the kind proposed by the “Planning for the Future” White Paper published in 2020, but eventually abandoned. We might notice a trend here in the face of Back Bench pressure from the Government Benches.
We take a different view; while we do not dispute that after a decade of piecemeal and inept tinkering the planning system the Government are presiding over is faltering on almost all fronts, we believe that introducing an entirely new system is not the answer. Instead, we believe a discrete number of targeted changes to the existing system, coupled with decisive action to ensure that every element of it functions optimally, will ensure we significantly boost housing supply and deliver 1.5 million homes over the course of the next Parliament.
As I do not have an abundance of time, I will give just one example of the kinds of changes we believe are necessary to get Britain building at the scale required. It is a change that I think might solve some of the problems that the hon. Member for St Albans identified in relation to St Albans. There is no way to meet housing need in England without planning for growth on a larger than local scale. However this Government, for reasons I suspect are more ideological than practical, are now presiding over a planning system that lacks any effective sub-regional frameworks for cross-boundary planning.
The limitations of the duty to co-operate were well understood, but it at least imposed a requirement on local authorities to engage constructively, actively and on an ongoing basis to develop strategic planning policies where needed. Its repeal last year through the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act, coupled with the fact that no replacement has been brought forward, leaves us with no meaningful process for planning strategically across boundaries to meet unmet housing need, given the inherent flaws of voluntary spatial development strategies.
Indeed, the Government have now even removed from the NPPF the requirement to help neighbouring authorities accommodate development in instances where they cannot meet their areas’ objectively assessed needs. If we are to overcome housing delivery challenges around towns and cities with tightly drawn administrative boundaries we must have an effective mechanism for cross- boundary strategic planning, and a Labour Government will introduce one.
Labour’s plan to power up Britain
Mar 28, 2024
- Turbocharge mayors with access to new powers over transport, skills, housing, planning, employment support and energy, supported by long-term integrated funding settlements.
- Work to expand devolution further and faster, with local authorities coming together to take on new powers to boost their economies.
- Roll out new Local Growth Plans to towns and cities take advantage of their economic potential and foster clusters of well-paid jobs.
- Build 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament, unleashing growth and putting more money into people’s pockets.
- Deliver the biggest boost of social and affordable housebuilding in a generation, embedding security and stability in our economy.
- Empower metro mayors to deliver new housing projects linked up to the jobs and infrastructure needed to support regional growth.
Labour pledges housebuilding drive on Grey Belt with ‘golden rules’ to boost public services, affordable homes and improve green spaces
19 April 2024
Keir Starmer has today [Friday] set out five ‘golden rules’ for Grey Belt housebuilding, pledging to deliver affordable homes, boost infrastructure and public services like schools and GPs, and improve genuine green spaces.
Building 1.5 million homes over the next parliament is a key plank of Labour’s policy programme, with a promise to reform planning rules at pace, to “take on the blockers and back the dream of home ownership.”
While reiterating that Labour will always take a 'brownfield first' approach to housing development, Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner are also pledging to release some land currently classed as Green Belt to build the homes Britain needs, “in light of abject Tory failure to build the homes our country needs.”
On a visit to a housing development today, the pair will outline Labour’s plans to create a new class of 'Grey Belt' land to ensure grey and poor-quality parts of the Green Belt are prioritised, and that any development benefits local communities. This follows cases such as affordable homes in Tottenham being blocked because a disused petrol station was designated as green belt.
Labour today slams the current 'wild west' of Green Belt development under the Tories, with an inconsistent and haphazard approach leading to significant amounts of speculative development - including on high-quality nature rich green belt land, often via appeal over the heads of councils and out of the reach of local people. Labour will end this free for all with a smarter approach that ensures the right land is released and that development on it benefits local communities.
The Tories’ approach means nobody is winning; the housing crisis is “engulfing a generation of hard-working aspirational people” whilst the UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world.
It comes as new analysis from Labour reveals the scale of Tory housing failure, with planning applications received and granted dropping to the lowest level on record. Applications made and granted have dropped by a fifth under Rishi Sunak.
A Labour government would take a brownfield first approach to development across England, prioritising building on previously developed land in all circumstances and taking steps to improve upon the government’s lacklustre record of brownfield build out rates. Areas with enough brownfield land should not release greenbelt.
A Labour government will implement five 'golden rules' for Grey Belt development:
Brownfield first – Within the green belt, any brownfield land must be prioritised for development.
Grey Belt second – poor-quality and ugly areas of the Green Belt should be clearly prioritised over nature-rich, environmentally valuable land in the green belt. At present, beyond the existing brownfield category the system doesn’t differentiate between them. This category will be distinct to brownfield with a wider definition.
Affordable homes – plans must target at least 50% affordable housing delivery when land is released.
Boost public services and infrastructure - plans must boost public services and local infrastructure, like more school and nursery places, new health centres and GP appointments.
Improve genuine green spaces – Labour rules out building on genuine nature spots and requires plans to include improvements to existing green spaces, making them accessible to the public, with new woodland, parks and playing fields. Plans should meet high environmental standards.
The Chair of Natural England has backed building on the green belt, pointing out “combining house building with nature recovery offers huge opportunities for increasing the environmental value of greenbelt, while creating great places for people to live.“
Keir Starmer, Leader of the Labour Party said:
“The Tories’ housing emergency has left millions unable to plan their lives, start families, or build a future for themselves and their kids. It’s engulfing a generation of hard-working aspirational people.
“Labour supports brownfield first policies. But we must be honest we cannot build the homes Britain needs without also releasing some land currently classed as Green Belt.
“We’ll prioritise ugly, disused grey belt land, and set tough new conditions for releasing that land. Our golden rules will also ensure any grey belt development delivers affordable homes, new infrastructure and improved green spaces.
"We will get tough on the blockers to back hard-working aspirational Brits, deliver the homes and local services that communities deserve, all while protecting access to genuine green space.”
Angela Rayner, Labour’s Deputy Leader said:
“Under the Tories, much of the Green Belt isn’t green, rolling hills, but poor-quality scrub land, mothballed on the outskirts of towns. This Grey Belt land should not be off limits while local people are kept off the housing ladder.
“The Tories have failed to distinguish genuine green spaces from “Grey Belt” land that’s ripe for housebuilding – and when they do concrete over, they never build the public services like GPs, schools and transport links to go with it.
“Labour has a plan for smarter Green Belt release, underpinned by strong rules to tackle the housing emergency and build the homes we need. When we build on the Grey Belt, our promise is that more houses means more schools, doctors and green spaces families can use.”
Ends
Notes to editors:
Labour’s Golden Rules for grey belt development
Brownfield first
Labour reaffirms its commitment to brownfield first planning policies, meaning areas should always look to build on brownfield sites before building on the green belt. Within the green belt, they should also prioritise brownfield land.
Grey belt second
Labour will create a new category called grey belt, prioritising development in grey and ugly areas of the Green Belt. We don’t think it is right that wastelands and old car parks located on the greenbelt are given the same protections in national policy as rolling hills and nature spots in the green belt.
Affordable homes
Any Green Belt land that is built on must target 50% affordable housing. There are many examples across the country of green belt sites delivering more than this (e.g 100%) reflecting the lower land value of green belt. We will end the Tories’ wild west of Green Belt building, with affordable housing rates as low as 10% with expensive executive homes local people can’t afford.
Boost public services and infrastructure
We will ensure that when your town or city grows, public services and infrastructure grow too – greenbelt release must include new infrastructure like more school and nursery places, care homes or GP capacity. The exact delivery will be negotiated by local leaders depending on the needs of their patch.
Protect genuine green space
Homes built on the greenbelt must be accompanied by a plan to improve existing green spaces and create new ones accessible to local people. This will mean new woodlands, parks, playing fields and protected space for local species. Lots of existing green belt is low quality wasteland sat on by landowners that local people can’t use and enjoy. We agree with the Chair of Natural England, who has said housebuilding and protecting nature are not incompatible. We will also look to ensure high environmental standards, that go above the legal minimum on biodiversity net gain must be met.
The Chair of Natural England has said new housing and better protection for green spaces, wildlife and nature should not be seen as opposites, and that building on green belt should be part of the UK’s answer to the housing crisis. England’s nature chief calls for building on green belt to solve housing crisis | Housing | The Guardian
The government’s official statistics on planning applications and decisions shows applications submitted and granted falling by around a fifth between 2022 Q2 and 2023 Q4. In 2023 Q4 they were at their lowest quarterly record since comparable statistics in 2006. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-planning-application-statistics
Labour will get Britain building again and save the dream of homeownership for younger people with a package of reforms to the planning system to build 1.5 million homes over the next Parliament. The plan includes:
A housing recovery plan; a blitz of planning reform to quickly boost housebuilding to buy and rent and deliver the biggest boost to affordable housing in a generation, ensuring local people have a say in ‘how’ housing is built with communities confident plans will be delivered.
The next generation of ‘new towns’; new communities with beautiful homes, green spaces, reliable transport links and bustling high streets.
Unleashing Mayors; a package of devolution to Mayors, with stronger powers over planning and control over housing investment.
‘Planning passport’ for urban brownfield development; with a fast track approval and delivery of high-density housing on urban brownfield sites.
First dibs for first time buyers; supporting younger people the first chance at homes in new housing developments with a government-backed mortgage guarantee scheme.
Angela Rayner’s speech to UKREiiF
21 May 2024
“It is great to be here, for the second time in as many months. And it’s the perfect venue because Leeds Dock was built through government working in partnership with people like you here today.
Investment and innovation, together with active local government, created this beautiful community space - a tech and digital cluster in the centre of Leeds, bringing together creative industries, architecture and culture. Where people genuinely want to spend time.
Should we win the trust of the British people and form a Labour government this year, the success of our missions will depend on working in partnership.
To create communities where people can start a family and get on in life.
So, if you want to build the decent houses Britain needs, if you want to get our economy back on track, creating good jobs, and if you want to invest in our country’s infrastructure - Labour will work with you to make it happen.
Because the missions Keir Starmer has set out can only be achieved by everyone pulling together.
We recognise that businesses need certainty and stability to do that.
This certainty is what businesses are telling us they need to get building and it’s also what families need.
Right now, Britain is in the middle of a housing crisis.
In hostels across the country, there are kids in temporary accommodation, doing their homework on the bathroom floors.
The housing crisis
Couples are stuck living with parents, unable to move in and start a family. People’s lives have been put on hold because there just aren’t enough homes.
Today there are around 8.5 million people with some kind of unmet housing need.
Solving our housing crisis is undoubtedly complex, but we are determined to work with you to solve it.
The truth is we have a planning system which has become gummed up.
I am sure you all know better than most that getting applications over the line can be like swimming through treacle and it’s absolutely right that local people get a say, but a failing system is not in the local or national interest.
Fewer than 70,000 planning applications were approved in the last quarter of 2023, the worst period on record, with fewer developments green-lit than during the height of the pandemic.
Getting applications over the line can be like swimming through treacle and it’s absolutely right that local people get a say, but a failing system is not in the local or national interest.
Getting shovels in the ground is crucial.
New homes don’t just provide families with the security to get on in life, these projects are central to creating good well-paid jobs, unlocking infrastructure like schools, hospitals, GP surgeries, and above all, sparking the economic growth Britain so desperately needs.
Because for every brick that is laid and every door handle screwed in, there is not just a family gaining a home, but another gaining an income. There is a supply chain which benefits.
When those manufacturers, couriers and shop workers secure more trade, all of Britain will benefit.
Creating growth that in turn pays for our NHS, our schools, and our country’s future.
Housing targets
We know the majority of developers are on the same page, eager to work in partnership with government to unlock housebuilding.
That requires an active central government. Including the re-introduction of local housing targets.
When Rishi Sunak binned this policy, he did so because he’s too weak to stand up to his own MPs and now the public is paying the price.
We’re already seeing the consequences for house building rates across England.
We will re-introduce local housing targets and ensure they are met
The Conservatives have failed to hit their housing target each and every year since they set it, meaning that we continue to lag well behind much of Europe on house building.
So, we will re-introduce local housing targets and ensure they are met.
But our ambition goes far beyond simply reversing the worst failures of the past few years.
Not for the first time, we are taking inspiration from the 1945 Labour government.
That built homes for heroes out of the ruins of war.
In the spirit of Clement Attlee, our approach to housebuilding will be both proactive and strategic.
As Secretary of State, I will empower our regional and local leaders to deliver, as Labour councils and the mayor do here in West Yorkshire.
Together, we can build beautiful new settlements right across the UK.
Clean, green homes of the future, properly insulated to bring down bills. And we will build from the bottom up.
What works in Stockton won’t always be what works in Southampton.
New settlements
And while we work with the grain of local communities and their character, we’ll also consider how urban regeneration and extension can play their part.
We want homes on these sites within the first term of a Labour government.
But these new large settlements must be built in the right place, in partnership with local people.
This is why an expert independent taskforce will be set up to help choose the right sites and a list of projects will be announced within our first 12 months of government, so we can start building the towns of the future within months, not decades.
Our next generation of New Towns will build homes fit for the future. Creating places where people want to live. Inspired by garden suburbs like Hale in Manchester, Roundhay in Leeds, and the Garden City project
But let me be clear - I will not simply demand “more units, at any cost”.
The reason many local communities resist new homes is often because the housing is of the wrong type, in the wrong place - it doesn’t come with the schools, GP surgeries and green spaces that make communities, not just streets.
Or the affordable and social housing local people need.
Our next generation of New Towns will build homes fit for the future. Creating places where people want to live. Inspired by garden suburbs like Hale in Manchester, Roundhay in Leeds, and the Garden City project.
We will set out a New Towns Code - criteria that developers must meet in these new settlements:More social and affordable homes - with a gold standard aim of 40 per centBuildings with character, in tree-lined streets that fit in with nearby areasDesign that pays attention to local history and identityPlanning fit for the future, with good links to town and city centresGuaranteed public transport and public services, from doctors’ surgeries to schoolsAnd access to nature, parks, and places for children to play.
New Towns are just one way we get good quality, affordable houses built in the national interest.
Our local housing recovery plan will reverse the Conservatives’ damaging changes to planning, getting stalled sites moving at speed.
We’ll give Mayors the tools they need to deliver homes in their areas, revitalising brownfield first, unlocking ugly, disused grey belt land for housebuilding and setting tough new conditions for releasing that land.
Our ‘golden rules’ will ensure any grey belt development delivers affordable homes, new public services, and improved green spaces.
This means more social and affordable homes and we will ensure that brownfield sites are approved quicker so homes get built fast.
Together, we will unleash the biggest wave of affordable and social housing in a generation.
Because a safe, secure, affordable home is the foundation of a good life.
We can see the consequences when that foundation is taken away.
Today, there is an epidemic of homelessness and rough sleeping in Britain.
Affordable housing delivery
In the face of this, mayors and councillors are battling to get spades in the ground.
Just look at what Tracy Brabin has achieved here. More affordable homes have been constructed in West Yorkshire over the course of the last two years than in any other period since 2010.
Local leaders are fundamental to securing decent homes for all. But they are fighting an uphill battle.
I want central government to match their ambition. Because affordable homes aren’t just a nice add on. They’re fundamental to securing decent homes for all. And a lynchpin of the economy.
We will make the Affordable Homes Programme more flexible so that every penny gets out the door
They are quicker to occupy and build, and get the growth we need as a country - creating reliable, well-paid, and highly skilled jobs in the process.
So, where the Tories have snatched billions from affordable housing, a Labour government will unlock government grants to deliver new homes.
We will make the Affordable Homes Programme more flexible so that every penny gets out the door.
And we will work with local leaders - who know their areas best - to ensure these funds are used more effectively.
We recognise also that it’s not a choice between housing and the environment. We can have economic growth and protect nature.
Because right now Britain is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. Half of our bird species are at risk of extinction, and toxic sewage flows through our seas and rivers.
So, when the government tried to sneak through half-baked reforms to nutrient neutrality rules, we told them to think again.
Because yes, Labour will take the bold action needed to support housebuilding, but we’ll also protect and enhance our natural environment.
And on this, I’ll be working with our Shadow Environment Secretary, Steve Reed to make sure we get this balance right.
Together, we’ll develop new policies for planting trees, restoring habitats and helping wildlife thrive.
And support the building of homes with access to green space and nature on their doorsteps.
So our children and grandchildren can grow up and experience the beauty of the natural world around us. But that’s not all.
14 years of Tory failure have failed renters. We will reform, where they have not.
Labour will ban no fault evictions, no ifs no buts. We’ll give first-time buyers ‘first dibs’ on new developments in their communities, with a comprehensive mortgage guarantee scheme for those who don’t have access to the bank of mum and dad.
We’ll end the mediaeval leasehold system, with root and branch reform, and we will build the houses that the next generation so desperately needs.
I know as well as anyone the difference a secure home makes.
Earlier this month I went to a new development in my constituency - a partnership between a developer, our local council, along with Homes England, delivered 62 much-needed new homes for affordable rent.
For families across Tameside, this development will provide secure homes. That’s what Labour is about.
Providing people with the security to get by and get on. A decent job. A secure, affordable home.
These are at the heart of our first steps for change - and our long-term mission for economic growth.
This is Labour’s plan to get our country its future back. So, working together - let’s get Britain building again.
Thank you.
Labour launches ‘Freedom to Buy’ scheme to get over 80,000 young people out of their parents’ house and onto the housing ladder
June 9 2024
Labour has today launched a new Freedom to Buy scheme to get more young people onto the housing ladder. Labour's plans would support over 80,000 young people to get on the housing ladder, over the next five years.
Keir Starmer has previously spoken about the ‘security’ his childhood family home gave his parents. The Labour leader has condemned the Conservative record on housebuilding, accusing the government of ‘strangling the aspiration of homeowning for a whole generation.’
Labour’s new, permanent, Freedom to Buy Scheme for first-time buyers will help families who struggle to save for a large deposit and can’t rely on cash gifts from relatives, with a permanent mortgage guarantee scheme to help working people get a mortgage and buy a home.
Half of young first-time buyers now receive financial support from family to buy their home, with an average gift of £25k. Children of homeowners are now twice as likely to own their own homes in comparison to children of renters.
Saving for a deposit is one of the biggest hurdles for working people getting on the ladder, with many paying more in rent than they would for a mortgage. Tory planning changes also mean the average deposit is set to soar by nearly £9k by 2030.
Keir Starmer has pledged to reform planning to get young people out of their parents’ house and onto the housing ladder. This comes as analysis shows the most common living situation for young people is back at home and census data has revealed for the first time that the majority of young adults, aged 20-24, now live at home with parents.
The Labour Party will argue that the best way to give young people the freedom to move out of their childhood bedroom is by building more homes, outlining a comprehensive plan to build 1.5 million homes over the next Parliament.
The Tories are currently planning to axe the scheme in June 2025. This would leave 65,000 young people denied the opportunity to own their own home, in comparison to if Labour were to continue the scheme permanently.
The average value of a home purchased using the scheme is £202,000, around the value of the flat Rishi Sunak bought with a six-figure loan from his parents.
The Labour Party has pledged to get working people on the housing ladder with:
- Planning reform to build 1.5 million homes: in the long-term best way to help young people is to build more homes. We will reintroduce housing targets, build on disused grey belt land, fast track permissions on brownfield and build the next generation of new towns.
- A Freedom to Buy Scheme: for first-time buyers to unlock people from the struggle to save for a large deposit, with a permanent mortgage guarantee scheme to help working people get a mortgage and buy a home.
- First dibs: work with developers to give local people ‘first dibs’ on new developments, ending the farce of entire developments sold off to international investors before local people get a look in.
- Tax foreign buyers to fund planning officers: tax foreign buyers pricing out young people to fund new planning officers to approve homes next generation needs.
- Reform compulsory purchase rules to get homes built: reform compulsory purchase rules to stop speculators frustrating housebuilding and squeezing value from infrastructure and affordable housing. Where necessary we will not hesitate to use reformed compulsory purchase orders to support housebuilding and infrastructure delivery.
Labour have also pledged to keep mortgage rates as low as possible with their tough fiscal rules and fiscal lock.
Keir Starmer, Leader of the Labour Party, said:
“After 14 years of Conservative government, the dream of home ownership is out of reach for too many hard working people. Despite doing everything right, they can’t move on and up. A generation face becoming renters for life.
“My parents’ home gave them security and was a foundation for our family. As Prime Minister, I will turn the dream of owning a home into a reality.
“Our changed Labour Party will be on the side of the builders not the blockers, to get Britain building again. My Labour Government will help first-time buyers onto the ladder with a new Freedom to Buy scheme for those without a large deposit, and by giving them first dibs on new developments.
“Labour backs hard work and ambition, and will clear the way for the opportunity to own a home. It’s time to stop the chaos, turn the page, and rebuild Britain.”
Angela Rayner, Labour Deputy Leader and Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, said:
“The Tories have crashed housebuilding, putting the dream of a safe, secure and affordable home further out of reach. Rishi Sunak is too weak to deliver the change our country needs.
“Labour’s new Freedom to Buy scheme will deliver for working people across the country. We will deliver more action on housing in the first year of a Labour Government than this crumbling Conservative government has managed in over a decade.
“Labour’s plan would get Britain building again with a new scheme to help young people get a mortgage and with a housing recovery plan, creating a generation of new towns and unlocking economic growth across Britain.
"Labour is the party of homeownership, and the only Party serious about building the homes Britain needs. We will deliver the change needed and end the Tory chaos.”
Ends
Notes
Freedom to Buy Scheme
Labour will introduce a permanent mortgage guarantee scheme, with the state acting as guarantor for prospective homeowners who struggle to save for a large deposit. Our scheme will be more comprehensive than the existing government scheme that is set to expire in June 2025, offering a permanent product for first-time buyers and families looking to get on the ladder.
In Britain there are large number of families earning a decent living who are stuck in expensive rented accommodation that often costs more per month than a mortgage. This group – dubbed ‘resentful renters’ by the Centre for Policy Studies, can easily afford mortgage repayments but struggle to save for a large deposit to get on the ladder. A permanent mortgage guarantee scheme will give these families a leg up onto the ladder by providing a guarantee for part of their mortgage, meaning they don’t need as big a deposit to secure a mortgage and buy a new home.
A Labour government would establish the existing Mortgage Guarantee Scheme as a permanent scheme that will run past June 2025. As part of making this scheme permanent a Labour government will rebrand and remarket the scheme so it becomes an easily recognisable and established product that lenders and buyers can confidently navigate.
A permanent scheme will establish insured mortgages as an integral part of the market that lenders and borrowers can confidently navigate. The government’s existing scheme has only ever established itself as a peripheral part of the market because it has only ever been designed a temporary scheme that has been hastily extended at the last minute as it was about to expire.
For lenders, there’s little incentive to properly integrate the scheme into their offer to customers, as they expect it to expire in a matter of months. Even though it’s repeatedly been extended, the lack of certainty means many lenders treat it as a peripheral product. On the other hand, prospective buyers struggle to find authoritative and accessible information about the scheme, and those who are saving to buy months and years in advance have no guarantee it will continue to exist when they come to buy a home.
A permanent mortgage guarantee scheme that is an established part of the market will increase the availability and lower the cost of mortgages for buyers who don’t have access to a large deposit. In other countries like Australia and Canada, widespread use of mortgage insurance lowers the cost and increases availability of mortgage products for families with smaller deposits, supporting homeownership.
A Labour government will work with lenders and industry on increasing uptake of the scheme and ensure front line mortgage advisors are aware of the product and can confidently offer it prospective buyers who want to get on the ladder.
The Conservatives housing crisis is failing families
- Institute for Fiscal Studies analysis found half of first-time buyers in their 20s get financial support from family, with the buyers receiving £25k on average. (https://ifs.org.uk/news/around-half-first-time-buyers-their-20s-receive-financial-help-buy-their-home-large)
- Industry analysis of Tory planning changes found the fall in housebuilding could increase the average deposit for a first-time buyer by nearly £9k by 2030. (https://lichfields.uk/blog/2023/february/27/making-a-bad-situation-worse-how-a-fall-in-housing-supply-due-to-nppf-changes-will-cause-social-harm-and-undermine-levelling-up#:~:text=Lichfieldfinds%20that%20by,practitioner%20or%20Education%20Support%20Assistant.)
- In the UK the most common living arrangement for young people aged 18-34 is living at home with parents. (https://www.ft.com/content/f21642d8-da2d-4e75-886e-2b7c1645f063)
- The majority of young adults aged 20-24 now live at home with their parents. (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/articles/moreadultslivingwiththeirparents/2023-05-10)
- Recent data shows planning permissions falling to record lows. (https://www.hbf.co.uk/news/planning-permissions-for-new-homes-continue-to-plummet/)
- There have been repeated reports of councils reversing previous decisions to approve housing schemes and explicitly citing changes to national planning policy announced by the Conservatives. (https://www.ft.com/content/37803a77-858b-4dc8-946c-b1f893ba5c0d)
- Labour wants to increase uptake of the scheme and ensure it’s properly integrated part of the mortgage market. However, even on previous rates of uptake, ending the scheme next June will see 65k young people denied the opportunity to get on the ladder. (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mortgage-guarantee-scheme-quarterly-statistics-19-april-2021-to-31-december-)2023
- The average value of a property purchased using the scheme is £202,703. This is almost identical to the £210,000 flat Rishi Sunak was able to buy with a six figure loan from his parents in 2001.
- Sources: HM Treasury, Mortgage Guarantee Scheme: Quarterly Statistics (15 May 2024), https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66437d144f29e1d07fadc718/Q4_2023_Quarterly_MGS_Statistical_Report__final_.pdf. This places the total value of properties purchased at £8.663bn
- Daily Mirror, 'Out of touch' Sunak is mortgage free — and got HUGE loan from parents on first flat, (22 July 2023) https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/out-touch-sunak-mortgage-free-30529377
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves target green belt for new homes
29 June 2024, The Sunday Times
Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are to begin a housebuilding blitz within days of gaining power if Labour wins the election.
At least three housing announcements are expected to be made in the first fortnight of a Labour government. Speaking to The Sunday Times, Starmer promised to “hit the ground running” and turbocharge housebuilding from “day one”. This will include a local authority-led review of green belt land.
Before the end of next month, Labour intends to publish a draft national planning policy framework, reimposing targets to ensure that councils are meeting local housing needs. Most young people cannot afford to buy their first home without financial support.
In their first joint newspaper interview, Starmer and Reeves, the shadow chancellor, described their plans to reinvigorate the economy if predictions of a landslide Labour victory proved correct.
The Labour leader said: “I want to make sure that we can make a start on this on day one.”
Reeves said there was an “urgency” for Labour to become the party of housebuilders because “we know that for kids like us today [from working-class backgrounds], some of those opportunities [to own a home] don’t exist”.
If all goes to plan, at the beginning of the party’s second week in power Angela Rayner, the incoming housing secretary, will announce a housebuilding programme.
By the third week, she will have written to local authorities to tell them to start a process of “regularly reviewing” their green belt boundaries to ensure they are hitting housing targets.
The intention is that councils will identify areas to be reclassified for development — a move likely to prompt early confrontations with the Tories.
Building on green belt land is strictly controlled, originally to limit urban sprawl. Reclassifying just 1 per cent of it in England could produce as many as 738,000 new homes, according to research by Searchland, a specialist development site sourcing company.
Reeves, who has previously called for a “common sense” approach to building on the green belt, 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.”
A recruitment drive for 300 planning officers, to help speed the rate at which local authorities grant permission for developments, will follow, alongside a “first dibs” scheme, prioritising new homes for a certain number of local residents to prevent properties from being sold to overseas investors.
These policies will underpin Starmer’s central pledge to build 1.5 million homes over the course of the next parliament.
The Conservatives never met their 2019 manifesto commitment to build 300,000 homes a year.
Challenged on whether Labour would deliver 300,000 homes in the first year, Starmer said: “It’s more likely, I think we’ll ramp up over the parliament. Therefore, towards the end of that, we’ll be doing more than the 300,000 [a year].”
When the Labour leader sat down with The Sunday Times on Friday, he was anxious to get home to his wife, Vic, who is Jewish, for Shabbat. As is tradition in the Starmer home, they had plans to sit down to watch the Channel 4 series Friday Night Dinner and eat together.
It is likely to be the last time that Starmer, who has been on the road for the past 37 days straight, will get to spend time with their 15-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter in the family’s north London home.
Barring the Tories pulling off what they themselves have admitted would need to be the greatest comeback in political history, the former director of public prosecutions will become Britain’s next prime minister.
When we meet in his constituency, he is accompanied by his soon-to-be Downing St neighbour Rachel Reeves.
The couple are intent on emulating the harmonious working relationship between David Cameron and his chancellor George Osborne, a feat their Labour counterparts Tony Blair and Gordon Brown failed to achieve.
The “stability of the economy and the stability of the team that is running the country” is something they believe investors will be looking for as they make choices about where to spend their money.
Starmer and Reeves are preparing to attract private investment worth billions of pounds in the first months of a Labour government, which they hope will help the party meet its ambitious growth target and avoid tax rises and spending cuts.
Sitting at Reeves’s side, Starmer, 61, said: “The strength of the relationship between Rachel and me has been there for years because this has been a joint project. We both knew what we had to do with the Labour Party. It’s been four-and-a-half years of hard work, but it’s been a joint initiative and that’s required a steely toughness and a clarity of purpose on both our parts at every step.”
He added: “It will be very good for the country to have, if we get over the line, a prime minister and chancellor who are very close personal friends with a shared political project, working closely together.”
Rejecting the warnings from senior Tories, including Grant Shapps, that handing Labour a “super-majority” would give the party “unchecked power” and put the country in a “dangerous place”, Reeves, 45, claims it will give investors more confidence.
“What businesses say to both Keir and me is that there is a wall of money ready to invest … but businesses won’t invest unless they feel confident that there is some stability in the economy. There hasn’t been. We’ve had five prime ministers, seven chancellors these last 14 years. That is not the stability that the businesses want and need.
“This is a great country, but in the last few years, businesses have looked at Britain and looked at other countries around the world and see stability elsewhere and not in Britain. If we can get that strong mandate next Thursday, then I think that, once again, businesses will look at Britain.”
With President Biden facing calls to stand down and a shift towards the far-right in France, Starmer claims that a strong majority for Labour will make the UK look like a safer bet.
“We actually think Britain’s a good place to invest, but that’s not going to happen while we’ve got chaos and a lack of mandate,” he said. “With what’s going on in France and what may be going on in America … these investors are looking around to say, ‘Which is going to be the country that looks as if it’s got a stable and strong enough mandate for us to put our money into it?’”
While Labour may be only days away from power, questions hang over its plans. Key among them is the party’s drive for growth. Starmer has previously said the British economy could grow by 2.5 per cent under a Labour government. So how will they achieve it?
Labour has said it will stage a global investment summit in its first 100 days in office where foreign investors would be invited to see what the UK has to offer. Reeves has also held meetings with the British Infrastructure Council to discuss how UK-based and international investment firms can unlock private capital for national infrastructure projects.
Attendees of the meetings have included representatives from BlackRock, Lloyds Banking Group, Santander, HSBC, Phoenix Group and Fidelity International, among others.
The plans are a throwback to the last Labour government in the late 1990s and early 2000s when, under Blair and Brown, private finance initiatives and public-private partnerships were expanded.
Dismissing claims that an incoming government cannot fix Britain’s stagnant economy, crumbling public services and infrastructure without raising taxes, Reeves said: “The debate around tax and spend is very frustrating because it misses out on the most important part of the economy, which is the growth in the economy.
“I can understand why the debate about the economy has reduced to tax and spend because that’s all you’ve had from the Tories these last few years, because you haven’t had growth. Without growth, the only choice is what tax to put up to pay for this needed spending. But there is a different way of doing things, and that is growth.”
Labour’s programme for government will be tightly focused around the party’s five national missions. They include a commitment to setting up Great British Energy, a publicly owned clean energy company, to help reach decarbonisation by 2030.
Asked how credible the party’s climate change goals are in the wake of widespread scepticism, Starmer said they were backed by Patrick Vallance, the government’s former chief scientific adviser.
“Vallance is an incredibly powerful endorser because he did a lot of the work that drove the [Covid] vaccine,” he said. “I’m sure when they started that somebody said to them, it is not possible to get a vaccine, it will take at least five years for the testing and they made it a national mission and they did it in a very short period of time.”
Another key focus for Labour will be on illegal migration after Labour pledged to ditch the Conservatives’ Rwanda policy.
Asked to explain his plans to stop the boats, the Labour leader said Britain needed a “better security arrangement with the European Union” over border security and needed to work more closely with the French. Although it was known that Labour was seeking an ambitious new UK-EU security pact, this is the first time it has been suggested that this would also encompass border security.
“We need to work better with the French authorities,” said Starmer. “We want a better security agreement with the EU when it comes to border security.”
Throughout the interview, Starmer and Reeves displayed a steely determination, which they will need in spades if they are swept into Downing Street. They believe a lack of aspiration is what has been holding the country back.
“It’s a psychological barrier that we need to get through,” said Starmer. “The story of aspiration and social mobility has been lost in the last 14 years and the sense that things will get better.”
Labour to set out details of planning system overhaul within days
5 July 2024, The Financial Times
Sir Keir Starmer is expected to set out an extensive package of predevelopment planning reforms within days, as part of plans to “get Britain building again” and address the country’s acute housing shortage.
The new Labour prime minister wants to “hit the ground running” on his promised overhaul of the UK’s sclerotic planning regime with an announcement as early as the weekend, according to people familiar with the plans. Starmer, who swept to power in a landslide election win, wants to reimpose previous house building targets on local councils that were watered down by the previous Conservative government.
He also wants to rewrite the National Planning Policy Framework — the policy guidance given to authorities on housing — so that it emphasises more of a presumption in favour of development, the people added.
A senior Whitehall official said Labour was expected to try and unleash investment in house building through greenbelt reforms that would release “grey belt” areas of ugly yet protected land for development.
One person close to the Labour leadership said ministers were likely to set out more detail on the “structure” and timing of the planning reforms as one of the first big announcements by the new government.
The reforms are a critical part of Labour’s plan to pull the UK out of a decade of low growth and productivity.
Two housing industry figures said they had been told Labour intends to make rapid progress on a “Towns Bill” to provide the legal underpinning for the party’s ambition to build new towns and urban extensions in England.
The bill would hand stronger powers to local authorities and development corporations to compulsorily purchase land.
The party is actively considering a move to unlock land for development by introducing a cap on the value of undeveloped agricultural land that local authorities are required to pay when they compel sales, according to a person with knowledge of the plans.
Such a move would help local authorities drive forward larger developments by bringing costs down.
The person added that Labour would, if it went ahead, impose an upper limit that would still allow landowners to demand a price that was several multiples of the land’s undeveloped value.
The new government will also promise funding for councils to hire about 300 planning officers to boost their depleted planning departments.
Labour did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shares in Britain’s leading housebuilders rose on Friday morning in anticipation of the reforms, as the UK awoke to Labour’s decisive win over Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives.
FTSE 100 housebuilders Vistry, Persimmon, Barratt and Taylor Wimpey all climbed by between 2 per cent and 3 per cent by midafternoon.
Matthew Tucker, senior associate at Burges Salmon, a Bristol-based law firm that advises property developers and local authorities, said that taken together, the measures had the potential to be transformative if they were implemented in a sufficiently ambitious manner.
“Land value is at the heart of quite a few of the changes that are in the pipeline. If we’re talking about unlocking chunks of the greenbelt, then the impacts of that on land values will, in my view, be very significant,” he added.
Various different administrations have tried to tackle Britain’s planning system over the past few decades. They have repeatedly run into powerful interests opposed to building on undeveloped rural and semirural land.
Labour’s target of building 1.5mn homes over the next Parliament is not dissimilar to the Conservatives’ old target of building 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s. “The difference is that we intend to hit it,” said one Labour aide.
New home completion figures from last year fell short at 212,570, barely changed from the year before. Forecast suggests the numbers will fall sharply this year as the property market slowdown bites.
Paul Cheshire, emeritus professor of economic geography at the London School of Economics, said steps to reduce the cost of agricultural land would be helpful, adding that one step would be the abolition of inheritance tax relief on agricultural land.
But he warned that Labour’s attempts to bolster homebuilding would take time to pay off. “It’s like turning a tanker around. Even if these steps are pursued vigorously, they will be lucky if they can get up to 300,000 homes built a year in four years’ time.”
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