Sunak pledges to build new housing in cities and not 'concrete over the countryside'

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is unveiling new housing policies for the UK. AFP

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to build the bulk of Britain’s new homes in major cities and vowed not to “concrete over the countryside”.

Ahead of planning reforms due to be announced by Housing Secretary Michael Gove, Rishi Sunak has confirmed that the government is on course to meet its target of building one million homes between 2019-24.

Mr Sunak, who is due to visit the West Midlands, and Mr Gove are expected to provide more details on Monday about plans to prioritise house building in inner city areas.

The proposals include developing a new urban quarter in Cambridge with space for homes, art facilities, laboratories and green areas.

“Today I can confirm that we will meet our manifesto commitment to build one million homes over this Parliament," Mr Sunak said.

“That’s a beautiful new home for a million individual families in every corner of our country.

“We need to keep going because we want more people to realise the dream of owning their own home.

“We won’t do that by concreting over the countryside – our plan is to build the right homes where there is the most need and where there is local support, in the heart of Britain’s great cities.

“Our reforms today will help make that a reality by regenerating disused brownfield land, streamlining the planning process and helping homeowners to renovate and extend their houses outwards and upwards.”

The announcement comes only two weeks after a cross-party panel of MPs warned that Tory ministers are unlikely to deliver 300,000 new homes per year after the prime minister made the target advisory rather than mandatory as he looked to see off a potential backbench rebellion.

The Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee, in a report published earlier this month, said that while the Government was on track to deliver one million new homes over the course of the current Parliament, it was not forecast to deliver 300,000 net new homes per year by the mid-2020s.

Clive Betts, the Labour committee chairman, said Mr Sunak’s decision was “already having a damaging impact on efforts to increase the building of new homes”.

Mr Gove, in a speech in London, will announce plans to slash red tape to pave the way for more conversions of shops and takeaways into houses in efforts to address the housing crisis.

A review into the extension of permitted development rights is expected to make it simpler to extend homes and convert lofts so buildings can be expanded upwards and outwards.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said ministers will also take steps to unblock bottlenecks in the planning system to speed up development approvals.

Mr Gove will unveil intentions to invest £24 million into a planning skills delivery fund to help clear backlogs.

A “super-squad” team of leading planners and other experts will be established to work across the planning system to unblock major housing developments, with their first port of call being in Cambridge to help realise the ambitions for the city.

Developers will be asked to contribute more through fees to help fund the upgrades, officials in Mr Gove’s department confirmed.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Gove said his proposals would also include creating development corporations to unleash a wave of new homes in cities such as Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool.

Councils will be given the opportunities to bid to set up the Government-sponsored bodies which will have the power to use compulsory purchase orders to buy up land and sell parts of it on to developers to build new homes.

Inspired by the regeneration created in east London by the Docklands Development Corporation in the 1980s, Mr Gove said his plans are to kick-start a “21st-century renaissance for our great cities”.

“Most people agree that we need to build more homes — the question is how we go about it," he said.

“Rather than concreting over the countryside, we have set out a plan today to build the right homes in the right places where there is community support — and we’re putting the resources behind it to help make this vision a reality.

“At the heart of this is making sure that we build beautiful and empower communities to have a say in the development in their area.”

Other plans included in Mr Gove’s reforms package involve setting up the Office for Place, a body charged with ensuring a high standard of housing design and that communities have a say in the look of new developments.