Government’s 1.5 million new homes target likely to be missed despite planning shake-up, says thinktank

The thinktank said that almost every part of the UK needs to build more private homes than the current system has delivered in 80 years in order for the country to meet its new housing target.

For Greater London, this requires adding more homes on an average annual basis than it did during its post-war high period from 2001 to 2022 and, for the rest of England, a higher rate than during its 1954 to 1979 high period.

Centre for Cities recommended the government replace the current discretionary planning system with a rules-based, flexible, European-style zoning system.

It said ministers should release some green belt land for development, especially in walking distance of railway stations with connections to England’s most expensive cities.

The thinktank said there should be an expanded role for the public sector in assembling land and preparing brownfield sites for development. It also called for a “substantial increase” in grant-funded public housebuilding, with a focus in cities, where affordability and quality outcomes are currently worst.

Mr Carter added: “By removing the discretionary element of the planning system, the UK would bring its planning system in line with most developed economies, remove a big block on housebuilding and enable places to better respond to future rises in demand for homes.

“We have done wholesale planning reform before, and we can do it again.

“What we can’t do is raise national economic growth – and reduce the strain high housing costs place on people’s spending power – if we don’t address the backlog of missing homes.”

A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “Despite the dire housebuilding inheritance we are trying to fix, we will deliver the 1.5 million homes our country desperately needs and get Britain building again.

“To get there, the government has already outlined plans to streamline the planning system, restore mandatory housing targets, establish a programme to unblock homes stuck in the planning process, and set up a new body to deliver the next generation of new towns.

“On top of this, our Planning and Infrastructure Bill will go even further in overhauling the planning system to boost housebuilding and economic growth across the country.”