Keir Starmer unveils plans for 4,000 homes to be constructed in London
Sir Keir Starmer stated that his government will ease mortgage regulations to simplify the process for first-time buyers to take their initial step onto the property ladder.
Writing exclusively for Metro, the Prime Minister set out his plans to shake up the housing market to make ownership more affordable.
‘I know from my own upbringing, a home means security. If you graft hard, the least you should expect is security,’ he writes.
Alongside Deputy PM and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner, Sir Keir is revealing today how the government will reach its ambitious housebuilding targets – including with the use of compulsory purchase orders.
Labour has committed to building 1.5 million new homes over the current parliament, which is due to end in 2029.
But there have been questions over whether that target is feasible due to the state of the construction workforce and local authorities.
Today, the PM has unveiled some of the projects that have been given the go-ahead, such as one in London with ‘almost 4,000 homes, two primary schools, a health centre, local businesses and a new riverside park’.
Ge announced that a drive to create the ‘next generation of New Towns’ has attracted more than 100 proposals from across the country.
These would be ‘places close to existing infrastructure and near good jobs and opportunities. The sort of places where people want to live and can thrive,’ he said.
Deputy PM Angela Rayner, who is also the housing secretary, is heading up the effort (Picture: Chris Radburn – Pool/Getty Images)
The PM writes: ‘I know there will be huge opposition to this. For too long, the NIMBYs and naysayers have been able to clog up our system so things can’t get built.
‘But I refuse to accept the cynics’ claim that no one wants these homes.’
Sir Keir cited figures from the Land, Planning and Development Federation that suggest planning applications will rise by 160% in the first half of this year compared to the second half of 2024.
This is because ‘businesses recognise this government is serious about getting Britain building’, he said.
To get people into those homes once they are built, the PM revealed Economic Secretary to the Treasury Emma Reynolds has written to the Financial Conduct Authority, telling them to put proposed mortgage changes into effect.
Earlier this week, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announced a £350 million boost for affordable homes (Picture: Maureen McLean/Shutterstock)
He said: ‘We’re demanding that mortgage rules be relaxed so they no longer block first time buyers.
‘But we are going further. We will step in, and back buyers ourselves, through a permanent mortgage guarantee scheme that will mean lenders will loan to people with smaller deposits.’
Last month, the House Builders’ Federation said a lack of resources in local authority planning departments was ‘one of the main causes of delay in decisions on planning applications’.
The group described the government’s pledge to bring in 300 additional junior planning officers across the country as a ‘drop in the ocean’.
In December, David Thomas, chief executive of the UK’s largest housebuilder Barratt Redrow, told BBC News ‘tens of thousands of new people will need to be recruited’ if the UK is to reach the target of 1.5 million new homes.
The government said at the time it was ‘taking steps to rectify’ the shrinking construction workforce.
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