Angela Rayner will this week tell councils to build more social homes as she announces major plans to unblock the clogged-up planning system.
The Deputy PM promised social housing will no longer be an “afterthought” amid hundreds of thousands of social rent homes having been lost since 2013. Some 1.3 million households are on waiting lists for social housing and almost 160,000 children are living in temporary accommodation.
“This is the dire inheritance we have been left by the Tories, and this is the result of years of failure to tackle the housing crisis,” the Housing Secretary told the Sunday Mirror.
“We can’t go on like this and we won’t. I know that a home is more than just bricks and mortar—it’s stability, dignity, and a foundation of a better life. It was social housing and the support of a strong community that was the making of me and I will make this opportunity available for others.”
(
Getty Images)
The Cabinet minister will this week set out major plans to overhaul the planning process to speed decision-making. Ms Rayner said she will remove the kind of rules that have stopped communities building enough social homes.
Under her proposals, applications that already comply with local development plans will be able to bypass planning committees. The measures will streamline the process, cutting out “chronic uncertainty” and “unacceptable delays” to get spades in the ground more quickly.
The government is also expected to confirm sweeping changes to the National Planning Policy Framework this week following a consultation launched in July. Increased housing targets are expected to become mandatory for the first time as part of the shake-up.
Keir Starmer last week set an ambitious target to build 1.5million homes in England by 2029, as he declared war on an “alliance of naysayers”. He pledged to fast-track decisions on at least 150 major infrastructure projects to produce more solar farms, roads and railway lines over the next five years.