Labour’s ‘New Towns’ will aim for 40 per cent affordable housing, says Rayner

Other criteria for developers working on new towns, announced by Ms Rayner today, includes developing buildings “with character, in tree-lined streets that fit in with nearby areas”. 

Design was also needed that “pays attention to local history and identity”, she said. “Good links” to town and city centres, with guaranteed public transport and public services, would also be required, she told delegates.

Ms Rayner said Labour is “taking inspiration” from the post-war 1945 Labour government. The New Towns Act 1946 saw the building of New Towns in places such as Stevenage and Harlow in England, and Cwmbran in Wales, to deal with overcrowding in cities. Around 1.2 million homes were built between 1946 and 1951. 

If elected, Labour will be aiming to build around 1.5 million homes over five years. This equates to 300,000 homes annually, the same as the current government’s target, which it has repeatedly missed. 

Labour has also pledged to build on poor-quality areas in the green belt, which it has dubbed the “grey belt”. Last month, the party unveiled its ‘golden rules’ for building on the grey belt, which includes a stipulation that a site must target 50% affordable housing.

Today, Ms Rayner said Labour would give mayors the “tools they need” to deliver homes in their areas, including “setting tough new conditions” for releasing grey belt land. 

“Together, we will unleash the biggest wave of affordable and social housing in a generation,” she said. 

Ms Rayner also attacked the current government’s approach to affordable housing and said her party will make the Affordable Homes Programme “more flexible so that every penny gets out the door”, without giving more detail. 

In her speech, she also repeated Labour’s pledge to ban no-fault evictions for private renters. “No ifs, no buts,” she said. Ms Rayner also vowed to end what she called the “medieval” leasehold system, with “root and branch reform”.