Labour said it would build 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament, reform the planning system and take a ‘brown field first’ approach to building in its manifesto, unveiled today.
Sir Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour party, announced the key policies for a future government which also included plans already released to make permanent the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme.
Under a new name of Freedom to Buy it will increase the availability of mortgages with small deposits of up to 5% for first-time buyers.
But today’s grand unveiling of the manifesto also focused on the house building targets. In it the party pledges to improve homeownership rates by immediately updating the planning framework. It will raise housing targets, prioritise the use of brownfield sites first and releasing lower quality ‘grey belt’ land. What’s more, the manifesto said, Labour would increase affordable housing.
Mortgage experts felt the ‘get Britain building again’ slogan had more than an air of déjà vu about it.
Andrew Montlake, managing director at Coreco, speaking to the Newspage Agency, said: “I hope to be proved wrong but how many governments have promised to get Britain building again, and how many have failed?
“Countless administrations have crashed on the rocks of the construction sector, with their promises slowly gathering dust. Planning reform is another thing that has been over-promised and under-delivered.
“Let’s hope the Labour Party can follow up the theory with practice. They appear to be the only party with the potential to do so.”
Justin Moy, managing director at EHF Mortgages, meanwhile was concerned about the practicalities.
Speaking to Newspage, he said: “Building 1.5m new homes is a pipe dream as we lack the tradespeople, infrastructure and raw materials to deliver it.
“These plans will take a long time to implement, and there are plenty of homes that could be regenerated quickly, combined with better mortgage rates, that would provide a quicker and more effective exit from the current mess that is the UK property market.”
