The housing minister today failed to explicitly commit to hitting Labour‘s key pledge of building 1.5million new homes across England over five years.
Matthew Pennycook insisted the Government is ‘still aiming for that target’ but pointed to growing ‘headwinds’ as the Iran war continues to rage.
Ahead of the 2024 general election, Labour vowed to overhaul the planning system and build 1.5million new homes across England over the course of a parliament.
But industry groups have warned the target is too optimistic, while official figures have shown home completion rates are well below the level needed to meet the goal.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday, Mr Pennycook insisted Labour’s houebuilding drive was ‘going broadly as expected’.
He said the Government ‘always expected’ housebuilding rates to be low in the early part of Labour’s time in power, before picking up in later years.
The housing minister added he was ‘pulling every lever’ to achieve the 1.5million target.
But, asked if the goal would be reached, he would only say: ‘We’re still aiming for that target.’
The housing minister today failed to explicitly commit to hitting Labour’s key pledge of building 1.5million new homes across England over five years
Matthew Pennycook insisted the Government is ‘still aiming for that target’ but pointed to growing ‘headwinds’ as the Iran war continues to rage.
Mr Pennycook said: ‘It’s going broadly as expected, although the headwinds are getting stronger for very obvious reasons.
‘Net housing completion stood at, I think, just over 340,000 as of 15 March – but we always expected the numbers in the early years of the parliament to be low.
‘The way the development cycle works, most of those completed homes will have been the product of planning applications submitted in the previous parliament where you’ll know the Conservative government took a series of anti-supply decisions, including abolishing housing targets.
‘So we always knew it would be from a low base coming in and the 1.5million target involved a very steep increase in housebuilding rates.
‘We’re pulling every lever, whether it’s planning reform, whether it’s £39billion of investment in social and affordable housing, whether it’s a new towns programme, whether it’s a new national housing bank with £16billion of financial capacity behind it.
‘We’re pulling every lever but, as I say, the headwinds are growing stronger.’
Pressed on whether the 1.5million target will be hit by the next general election, due in 2029, Mr Pennycook replied: ‘We’re still aiming for that target.
‘I am still absolutely confident we’re going to get to high and sustainable rates of housebuilding in the later years of the parliament.
‘We want that target in place because it’s ambitious, we need the sector to galvanise itself, to gear up to develop those houses.
‘As I’ve said before, anything less I think wouldn’t have been commensurate with the scale of the crisis we face.
‘We’ve got a situation where 170,000 children are right now homeless and in temporary accommodation.’
It came as the Government selected seven locations for new towns to be built across the UK.
Each proposed location is expected to deliver at least 10,000 homes, with several delivering more than 40,000.
The new towns will feature neighbourhoods that people can easily get around without a car, shared green spaces and vibrant high streets, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said.
The seven chosen locations are: Tempsford, Leeds South Bank, Crews Hill and Chase Park, Manchester Victoria North, Thamesmead, Brabazon and West Innovation Arc, and Milton Keynes.
The Government also assessed six further new town locations: Adlington, Heyford Park, Marlcombe, Plymouth, South Barking and Wychavon Town — but decided they will not be taken forward.
The proposed names the Government is considering include Elizabethtown (after the Queen), Pankhurst (after suffragette Emmeline), Attleeton (after ex-PM), Athelstan (first King of England) and Seacole (after nurse Mary), it has been reported.
