Sunak Renews UK Housebuilding Pledge, Relaxes Planning Rules

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(Bloomberg) — UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak vowed to meet his 2019 election manifesto commitment of building 1 million new homes over the course of this Parliament, as he tried to restore support in his Conservative party following a drubbing in two special elections last week. 

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Sunak’s renewed pledge on Sunday night came ahead of a speech by Housing and Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove on Monday, in which he is expected to set out new measures to streamline the UK’s planning system in an effort to build more homes. 

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His reforms could make it easier to convert premises such as takeaways and betting shops into new houses, at a time when a shortage of properties is driving up rents and keeping housing costs high — worsening the UK’s cost-of-living crunch ahead of a general election expected next year. 

“I can confirm that we will meet our manifesto commitment to build 1 million homes over this Parliament,” Sunak said in a statement. “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.”

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It came as the ruling Conservative party suffered two defeats in by-elections last week, losing seats in the North Yorkshire constituency of Selby and Ainsty to Labour and the West Country constituency of Somerton and Frome to the centrist Liberal Democrats. 

Read more: Tories Urge New Sunak Strategy, Cabinet After Election Losses

The Tories narrowly held on in the London suburb of Uxbridge and South Ruislip, previously the constituency of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, but at a national level the party is still trailing the Labour opposition by about 20 points in recent polls.

The planning changes would be focused on “regenerating disused brownfield land, streamlining planning process and helping homeowners to renovate and extend their houses outwards and upwards,” Sunak added. 

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However they were met with scepticism by Labour’s Shadow Levelling Up secretary Lisa Nandy, who said they were a “drop in the ocean” compared to what was needed. 

The Local Government Association, which represents local authorities in England and Wales, also warned the proposals could lead to “substandard” developments. 

It comes after Sunak was criticized for watering down a previous target to build 300,000 homes every year, after a number of Tory MPs raised objections. 

But housing is now set to be a key battleground for the UK’s major political parties ahead of a general election which must be held by early 2025 at the latest. Rising mortgage costs and a shortage of stock are pushing up rents to record levels and suppressing an expected dip in house prices, adding to the UK’s cost-of-living crisis.

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In an interview with the Telegraph published on Sunday, Gove also suggested that the Conservative party may ease pressure on landlords by delaying its own plans to force private rented housing to meet minimum energy efficiency standards by 2028. 

“My own strong view is that we’re asking too much too quickly,” Gove told the newspaper. “We do want to move towards greater energy efficiency, but just at this point, when landlords face so much, I think that we should relax the pace that’s been set for people in the private rented sector.”

Gove’s comments, which also cautioned against the UK’s sustainability efforts becoming a “religious crusade,” followed a series of suggestions from figures in both major political parties that so-called “green” targets may be dialed back in an effort to appeal to a broader base of voters. 

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Undersecretary for housing Lee Rowley told Times Radio that Labour’s unexpected defeat in Uxbridge last week — which was blamed on the party’s plans to extend the capital’s ultra-low emission zone or Ulez, in which motorists must pay a fee to drive polluting vehicles — showed that green ambitions must be pursued “in a careful manner.”

Speaking at Labour’s National Policy Forum in Nottingham on Saturday, the opposition leader Keir Starmer said Labour must “face up” to the consequences of its push to expand Ulez and that it was “doing something wrong” if its policies were being used by its political opponents to further their own campaigns. 

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