Deputy PM Angela Rayner vowed to ‘hold their feet to the fire’ to get homes built with planned new powers for councils as the Government battles to fix the housing crisis
Fat cat developers who fail to build promised homes could have their land seized or face fines.
Councils will be given new powers to take control of developments left gathering dust to ramp up pressure to get homes built.
Developers who leave sites unfinished for years or get planning permission just to sell the land to the highest bidder will also be forced to pay hefty fines to local authorities per unbuilt home, based on the council tax that would have been paid.
And offenders could be blocked from getting future planning permissions, under the new plans.
For the first time, housebuilders will also have to commit to deadlines before they get planning permission, and keep town halls updated each year on their progress.
Deputy PM Angela Rayner vowed to “hold their feet to the fire” to get homes built as the Government battles to fix the housing crisis. She told the Sunday Mirror: “We’re saying to developers – we will not have stalled sites. We’re going to hold their feet to the fire.
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“As part of that planning process they have to tell councils what their plan is of how many houses will be built in a year, and their progress on where they’re getting with that, and making sure that there are penalties if they don’t keep up with that.”
Large housing sites, producing over 2,000 homes, can take at least 14 years to build, locking families out of owning their own homes or being able to rent affordably. But progress can be much quicker if more than 40% of the homes are affordable, according to the Minister of Housing and Local Government (MHCLG).
Officials are considering whether to make mixed sites the default requirement to fire up housebuilding. Fixing the planning progress and making it harder to block developments is critical to the success of the Government’s plans to build 1.5million new homes in England by the end of this Parliament.
Councils have already been handed mandatory housing targets and planning rules have been drawn up to make it easier to get spade in the ground. But questions have been raised about the Government’s ability to meet the target – which would mean building an average of 300,000 homes a year.
Asked if she was confident of meeting it, Ms Rayner said: “It’s a stretch target. We always knew it was a really challenging target to meet, but we’re absolutely determined to meet it. And the developers and the councils, they say it’s hard, but they don’t say it’s unachievable either.”
Ms Rayner added: “There’s a lot we’ve done already to really ramp up house building, but what we inherited was the system that was going backwards and a previous government that was more focused on the vested interests on their benches than the vested interests of the British public.”
The new Planning Reform working paper will be published today(SUN) alongside a consultation on the proposals.
Shelter said urgent action was needed to tackle rising homelessness and help families stuck on social housing waiting lists. Alicia Walker, assistant director of advocacy and activism, said: “It’s good to see the Government getting tougher on private developers.
“With 1.3 million households waiting for a social home and homelessness continuing to climb, we urgently need new homes built at speed. Developers drag their heels when building new homes to keep prices high and make bigger profits – often dodging their responsibility to build social housing altogether.
“Meanwhile, thousands of families who are bearing the brunt of the housing emergency, homeless in temporary accommodation or crushed by skyrocketing rents, cannot afford to wait.”
‘Driving down child poverty is absolutely a priority’
Angela Rayner has insisted reducing child poverty is a top priority – despite delays to the Government’s flagship strategy to pull kids out of hardship.
Keir Starmer appointed a task force last summer to draw up plans to tackle the scourge of child poverty. But it emerged this week that publication had been delayed until the autumn amid rising tensions over whether to scrap the Tory two-child benefit limit.
The policy, introduced by George Osborne, restricts parents from claiming Universal Credit or Child Tax Credits for any children beyond their first two. The PM is believed to want the option to scrap the policy on the table as he sees it as a personal mission to reduce child poverty by the next election.
On reducing child poverty, Ms Rayner told the Sunday Mirror: “It’s absolutely a priority of ours.” She said the government was considering all the evidence, when asked if the two child benefit cap could be scrapped.
Ms Rayner added: “One of the ways in which we can eliminate child poverty is by having parents being able to go to work. I grew up in a family that was a workless family, and I grew up in poverty and it’s no fun.
“What we need to do is create good jobs where people have access to them and people have the housing they need. And that’s where we’re focused, is trying to actually eliminate child poverty by giving opportunities, and making sure that people have good lives.”
‘We don’t need ‘slogan politics’ to take on Farage’
Angela Rayner said Labour must face down the disillusionment gripping voters amid fears of the surge in popularity for Reform UK. Asked on the threat facing the party from the right-wing outfit, she said: “My main worry is not a particular political opponent.
“My main worry is the disillusionment of people who feel that politics doesn’t work for them.” She said Labour was elected on the promise of change but warned there was no “quick fix” to the problems facing the country.
“You’ve got to do the hard yards, and that’s what we’ve been doing in the first 12 months,” she said, pointing to workers rights reforms, public services, housing and trade deals with India, the US and the EU.
She added: “These are really structurally foundational issues which will pay off and that’s what I want to see the government doing. It’s not a political opponent issue. It’s about regaining the trust of the British public that says politics is a force for good.”
Ms Rayner declared Labour can take the fight to Nigel Farage as “we’re rolling up our sleeves and doing the hard yards”.
She said: “We’re not doing back of a billboard or slogan politics here. We’re rolling up our sleeves and doing the hard yards. “There’s no easy fix. There’s no two/three word slogan that’s going to get you through the challenges our country faces.
“But we’ve got the optimism to know that our best years are ahead of us if we’ve got a government that matches the ambition of the British people.”
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