Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to increase
the number of houses being built.
The Minister of State, Home Office and Ministry of Housing,
Communities and Local Government () (Con)
My Lords, I point to my residential and commercial interests as
set out in the register. The Government are committed to
supporting the supply of new homes; we delivered around 244,000
last year, the highest number in more than 30 years. We are
bringing forward an ambitious nearly £20 billion investment that
will include over £12 billion for affordable housing over five
years and more than £7 billion to both unlock new land through
the provision of infrastructure and to diversify the market
through our national homebuilding fund. Alongside our reforms to
the planning system, this will deliver the new homes the country
needs.
(LD) (V)
While I welcome what has been done, does the Minister agree that
we need something on a much larger scale—a Beveridge-scale
programme for new affordable housing? That would provide the jobs
needed for those who have possibly lost their jobs because of the
pandemic. I would also suggest that there should be a Minister at
Cabinet level with just one job—a Minister for housing. We should
also co-operate with the Ministers for housing in Belfast,
Edinburgh and Cardiff. I hope that he will agree with that and
help to put it into operation.
(Con)
My Lords, I would point out that housing is a devolved matter and
I am not looking to tie the hands of the Prime Minister in how he
prioritises this. I would also point out that we need to be very
clear about the levers that the Government have to deliver new
housing. The most important of those is the investment in
infrastructure and the very substantial £12 billion commitment to
affordable homes.
The
(V)
My Lords, I declare non-financial interests in various Church
lands through numerous charities of which I am a member. The
Church will be publishing a housing, church and communities
report in February. Can the Minister tell us what criteria Her
Majesty’s Government use to define affordable housing? Is it
genuinely affordable in the sense that most people would use the
word?
(Con)
The definition of “affordable” that we use is taxpayer-subsidised
housing. Of course, that is council housing as well as housing
association and social housing but, importantly, it is housing
that takes you on a pathway to home ownership—so it is immediate
housing that is also discounted by the taxpayer.
(Con)
(V)
My Lords, home ownership is a huge contributor to a prosperous
and contented society, and I am glad to see the Minister’s focus
on this. What is the gross number of new homes that were built
last year? I am not sure about the basis for the figure of
244,000 that he mentioned. How many were in existing buildings
such as pubs, offices or shops?
(Con)
My Lords, the gross figure for additional dwellings was 252,790.
That figure was obtained by adding 243,770 net additional
dwellings to 9,000 demolitions. Some 26,930 gains were made
through change of use.
(CB) (V)
I congratulate the most reverend Primate the on
his appointment of a Church of England bishop for housing; that
is a most helpful move. Does the Minister agree that now is the
time to accept the excellent recommendations made by Sir
to get more
homes built by ending our dependence on the oligopoly of major
housebuilders who corner the land market and build out at a speed
that suits themselves? Instead, we should capture the land value
through local authorities and thus ensure the building
simultaneously of a variety of new homes, including social
housing and retirement housing and so on, for every major site.
(Con)
My Lords, there is a great deal of sense in that question. I
would point out that the proposals to revise the National
Planning Policy Framework make it clear that sites for
substantial development should seek to include a variety of
development types from different builders.
(Lab) (V)
My Lords, many charitable housing providers such as
almshouses—for which I am an ambassador—are very small and are
not included with regulated social housing providers, so will the
Government review Section 106 of the planning guidance to extend
its benefits and allow almshouses and other charitable providers
to extend their housing provision?
(Con)
The use of Section 106 is a very important driver of the delivery
of affordable housing. Perhaps I might take that point away and
respond in writing.
(LD) [V]
My Lords, I am sure that the Minister is aware of many local
authorities such as Luton—my home town—which do not have much
building land within their own boundaries; their housing waiting
lists continue to run into thousands. In order to meet local
needs, can he tell us how the Government plan to help such local
authorities acquire land from neighbouring councils to build
much-needed affordable social housing?
(Con)
My Lords, I have pointed to a substantial amount of money—£12
billion—of which £11.2 billion is for the affordable homes
programme. In addition, we have announced a new, £7.1 billion
fund, which is designed to help precisely with land acquisition
and to deal with the requisite infrastructure to enable the
housing that the noble Lord describes.
(Con)
My Lords, small and medium housebuilders who build most of the
existing housing stock have practically ceased to exist in the
last few decades, in part because of the cost, time and risk
involved in obtaining planning permission. Does my noble friend
agree that there is a case for exempting small builders
developing small sites from the need for planning permission,
subject only to a pre-published design code?
(Con)
My Lords, my noble friend is right that we are seeing the level
of planning regulation deter small builders. It is important
that, as part of our reform of the planning system, the
Government take that into account and find ways to, let us say,
level up the field to let the small players participate in the
market and therefore deliver on the small sites the new homes
that this country needs.
(Lab) [V]
I speak as a vice-president of the LGA. With government targets
continuously missed, the last time anywhere near 300,000 homes a
year were built, councils contributed more than 40% of them. So
the only way the Government could get back to building at this
scale would be by supporting councils to build homes. What steps
therefore are the Government taking to help local authorities
build the homes they need to build?
(Con)
My Lords, achieving the highest housebuilding target in over 30
years is a credible achievement. There is no doubt that the
300,000 target will be stretching, particularly in the light of
the national Covid emergency. We will rely on councils to build;
we have released the constraints on local authority finance and
the ability to borrow, as well as providing a huge £12.2 billion
programme for affordable housebuilding.
(CB) [V]
My Lords, these questions have been focused entirely on the
supply of housing, but the future demand for housing is surely a
key aspect. Is the Minister aware of the latest ONS household
projections for England? They show that, over the next 20 years,
just over half the extra homes needed for our projected
population growth will be the result of immigration; that is,
nearly 300 new homes every day. Surely we need action on demand
as well as on supply.
(Con)
My Lords, it is important that we think about both the demand and
the supply of homes, but it is also important that we attract
global talent to this country. It is about getting that right—but
I am not the Minister for immigration policy.
(Con) [V]
My Lords, more than 1 million homes that have been given planning
permission over the last decade are yet to be built. Does my
noble friend agree that, for the Government to meet their
aspirations on the number of new homes being built, giving
councils tools to encourage developers to build on sites with
permission would enable building in a swift and timely manner?
(Con)
My noble friend will know that the Government want to see new
homes built faster and to a higher-quality standard. Our planning
White Paper proposes to introduce more speed and certainty into
the planning system through the granting of automatic outline
consents for growth areas. This will ensure that developers,
authorities and communities can have greater clarity at an early
stage of the process and will reduce unnecessary delays as those
developments progress.
