The government’s housing white paper is evolutionary, not revolutionary – and it leaves much ground for Labour to occupy, argues Mark Walker
In as much fanfare as the Brexit news cycle will allow the government launched its housing white paper last week – ‘Fixing our broken housing market’. The report got mixed reception and it was almost impossible for the report to live up to the expectations, but there are some fundamental things to be welcomed.
The headline point for Labour is the failure of the report to address the key challenge of the shortage of genuinely affordable housing to those on the lowest incomes. Equally for those in the private rented sector there is the obvious disappointment that future legalisation over longer tenancies is limited in scope. The policy that proved popular for Labour during the 2015 general election campaign will only be applied to new build and not existing housing stock. Finally the government have not shifted from its definition of ‘affordable’ and are sticking with 80 per cent of market rate. This presents a great opportunity for Labour to put some clear policy difference between the Tories and us.
However, this report is fundamentally about planning and building of homes or ‘planning for the right homes in the right places’. It is here that the government have taken steps that could best be described as interventionist. Councils will now lose their new homes bonus if they fail to give permission to a scheme that is then approved on appeal to the planning inspector. To some local authorities this could be up to £20 million. The reason for many refusals for housing schemes is the failure for areas to have a local plan. Here again the government have made it clear that they will insist that all councils have one and that appeals will automatically be overturned if the council fails to have a plan. Bold steps, which should be welcomed and supported by all sides of the house. No pun intended.
Also to be welcomed is the extra teeth given to the Homes and Communities Agency to help implement the new legislation and £3bn to help small builders to get through planning and building control. The HCA is even having its remit broaden to include reviewing how further support can be given to developing apprenticeships and skills. The HCA will even look at the idea of the advancement of off site construction.
The obvious missing part of the report is the issue of the green belt, though the report talks about the popular green swaps programme, allowing councils to suggest some protected land is freed up for development. The bolder, and politically risky process of redefinition of the green belt has been quietly forgotten. The much-discussed issue of an introduction of a land-value tax is also missing – David Green tackled this well all the way back in 2011. This leaves the door open for a bold manifesto commitment for Labour going forward.
The Tories have settled a financial package for Sadiq Khan to deliver the housing that is needed for London, and will no doubt be keen to continue the quicker planning procedure outside the capital, especially in the close fight in the West Midlands mayoral race. The evolutionary, not revolutionary nature of this report leaves much ground for Labour to occupy. Knocking on doors in marginal seats over the last seven years there has been a clear change of heart by those middle-class parents (think Mosaic group F) who now see the struggle their children face to get on the housing ladder, a key swing voting democratic for us. Nimbyism is far from over but the Tories have failed to grasp this change and now it is a challenge we should embrace.
———————————
Mark Walker is a Labour party member. He tweets at @MarkTW2
———————————