LONDON: Britain is being held back by its “housing crisis” and the new Government has a “mountain to climb” to address it, according to Angela Rayner.
The Deputy Prime Minister said the new Labour administration has already taken the first steps in response, as she pointed to plans to reform the planning process to boost house building.Ms Rayner, who is also Housing Secretary, added that the Government is also committed to the “biggest wave” of social and affordable housing for a generation.
In the King’s Speech, the Government said the Planning and Infrastructure Bill would reform the system to help meet the goal of building 1.5 million more homes over the course of the Parliament – deciding “how, not if” properties are built.
Opening day three of the King’s Speech debate, Ms Rayner said she pledged to “always tell it as it is” during her maiden speech in 2015 before adding in the Commons: “I think that’s one promise I have kept to.
“Now I intend to fulfil another because we promised the people of this country that we will serve their interests and not ours.“That starts by having the honesty to say that we will not be able to put right the mess of the past 14 years immediately, but after just two weeks we have already made a difference.”
The Housing Secretary said this includes the Government taking steps to “unblock our planning system” by creating a new taskforce to accelerate stalled housing sites.Ms Rayner said: “The housing crisis is holding Britain back. Too many families face soaring mortgage payments or sky-high rents for damp, unsafe homes.
“Or the leaseholders trapped facing eye-watering charges with no way out. “All
of this has been fuelled by the chronic housing shortage after the last Government failed to meet their housing targets every single year. Housing completions are now set to hit their lowest level since World War Two.
“So we know we have a mountain to climb. That is why we’re already taking the first steps, starting with an overhaul of our planning system – a reform that will both help build the homes we need and speed up the infrastructure to support them.
“We are committed not just to an ambitious target for overall house building but the biggest wave of social and affordable housing for a generation. It’s a promise that we’ll bring back with meaningful housing targets.”
Responding from the Tory opposition benches, shadow housing secretary Kemi Badenoch said: “Some people think opposition is about throwing mud across the chamber or calling your opponents scum. But often it’s about saying ‘I told you so’.
“And I want to reassure (Ms Rayner) that I will be here to say ‘I told you so’ when these targets are missed.“We of course will be a constructive opposition. We want to see homes built in the right places with the right infrastructure. We are here to help.
“I doubt the same can be said of the biggest local nimbys in the country, the Liberal Democrats. There are many more of them now – you wouldn’t know but there are – usually elected on promises not to build anything anywhere in their communities.”