New Housing Secretary Steve Reed has issued a ‘call to arms’ to leading developers and housebuilders following a roundtable held this week.
The new Secretary of State, alongside Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook, committed to working in partnership with industry leaders to ramp up housebuilding, focusing on the remaining barriers, including complex planning processes, that stand in the way of building 1.5 million homes in this Parliament.
“I want us to build, baby, build, so we can put the key to a decent home into the hands of every single family that needs it,” Reed said.
“We are doubling down on our plans to unleash one of the biggest eras of building in our country’s history, and we are backing the builders all the way.
“Through major planning reform and investment, we will break down the barriers to development and build the 1.5 million homes this country needs as part of our Plan for Change.”
The ‘call to arms’ comes ahead of a blitz of new measures expected to be announced in the coming weeks and months, including new towns across the country and the landmark Planning and Infrastructure Bill passing into law.
The Housing Secretary met key developers and housebuilders before travelling to a housing site in Bedfordshire to witness first-hand the best ways to move forward and speed up building at sites up and down the country.
Since entering office, the Labour government says its has unblocked almost 100,000 homes through the New Homes Accelerator, pumped millions of pounds into councils unlocking disused brownfield land, and invested a huge £39 billion into the new Social and Affordable Homes Programme.
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