
Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary, Angela Rayner, has written to Metro Mayors and local authorities from across England calling on them to play their part in building new homes.
As part of an overhaul of the planning system, all councils in England are to be given new, mandatory housing targets to pave the way to deliver 1.5 million more homes. Changes will also reverse the move in 2023 by the previous administration to make housing targets advisory.
The Deputy Prime Minister has written to every council Leader and Chief Executive in England, as well as Metro Mayors, to advise that they have “not just a professional responsibility but a moral obligation to see more homes built” and that she will intervene and use existing powers to take control of a local authority’s planning function where necessary to see new homes built.
Reforms will make the default answer to proposed developments on brownfield sites a “yes” and promote homebuilding at greater densities in urban centers, like towns and cities.
For development on Green Belt sites, the changes will also support proposals on ‘grey belt’ sites at the edges of settlements and on previously developed sites in the Green Belt in cases where council’s do not have an up to date Local Plan or one that shows there is sufficient available land to meet housing targets. Land released for housing in the Green Belt will also need to provide 50% affordable homes, increase access to green spaces and put the necessary infrastructure is in place for residents, such as schools and GP surgeries.
Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner said:
“Today marks a significant step to getting Britain building again.
“Our decisive reforms to the planning system correct the errors of the past and set us on our way to tackling the housing crisis, delivering 1.5 million homes for those who really need them.
“And something I am personally proud of, our new flexibilities for councils will boost the number of social and affordable homes, and give working families a better route to a secure home.”
In Stockport, a draft Local Plan was published in July following numerous delays owing to uncertainty around the previous Government’s planning reforms. However, the Housing Secretary’s new housing targets for the borough will require 1,906 new homes to be built annually in Stockport – close to double the old target of 1,097 – and may pose a further setback. The plan is set to go out to public consultation later this year, and has prioritised brownfield development with very minimal Green Belt allocated for new housing in the borough to meet the old housing targets. Minimising development on the Green Belt is in line with councillors’ reasoning for pulling out of the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework that would have shared housing targets across the city-region’s 10 boroughs.
Stockport’s local Liberal Democrat administration has criticised the national government’s plans, hitting out against a top-down approach to planning decisions. Writing on the Stockport Liberal Democrats’ website, Cllr Mark Roberts, the Cabinet Member who has responsibility for delivering the Local Plan, said:
“We will be reviewing the detail of the Government instruction but it does look like Labour are intent on concreting over the Green Belt across Stockport and the wider GM region instead of supporting our Lib Dem plan for the much needed right homes in the right places.”