Now that all of the political parties have unveiled their manifestos ahead of the election on July 4, we’ve reviewed all of the pledges and what they have in store for the future of UK housebuilding.
Keep reading for an overview of the housebuilding and wider housing-related key takeaways that have been shared by the main political parties.*
Conservatives – ‘Our plan to build more houses in the right places’
The Conservatives have pledged to deliver 1.6 million homes in England in the next Parliament by:
- Abolishing the legacy EU ‘nutrient neutrality’ rules to immediately unlock the building of 100,000 new homes with local consent, with developers being required to pay a one-off mitigation fee so there is no net additional pollution
- Delivering a record number of homes each year on brownfield land in urban areas by providing a fast-track route through the planning system for new homes on previously-developed land in the 20 largest cities
- Unlocking new urban regeneration schemes by creating locally-led urban development corporations in partnership with the private sector and institutional investors
- Supporting local and smaller builders by requiring councils to set land aside for them and lifting Section 106 burdens on smaller sites
- Making sure local authorities use the new Infrastructure Levy to deliver the GP surgeries, roads and other local infrastructure needed to support homes
- Renewing the Affordable Homes Programme that will deliver homes of all tenures and focus on regenerating and improving housing estates
- Protecting the Green Belt from uncontrolled development, while ensuring more homes get built where it makes sense, like in inner cities.
Labour - ‘We will get Britain building again’
Labour has pledged to get Britain building again by building 1.5 million new homes over the next Parliament by:
- Updating the National Policy Planning Framework, which includes restoring mandatory housing targets
- Taking tough action to ensure planning authorities have up-to-date Local Plans and reforming and strengthening the presumption in favour of sustainable development
- Supporting local authorities by funding additional planning officers through increasing the rate of the stamp duty surcharge paid by non-UK residents
- Taking a brownfield-first approach by prioritising the development of previously-used land, wherever possible, and fast-tracking the approval of urban brownfield sites
- Taking a more strategic approach to greenbelt land designation and release to build more homes in the right places. The release of lower quality ‘grey belt’ land will be prioritised and ‘golden rules’ will be introduced to ensure developments benefit communities and nature
- Giving Combined Authorities new planning powers and new freedoms and flexibilities to make better use of grant funding
- Reforming compulsory purchase compensation rules to improve land assembly, speed up site delivery, and deliver housing, infrastructure, amenity and transport benefits in the public interest
- Taking steps to ensure that landowners are awarded fair compensation rather than inflated prices based on the prospect of planning permission for specific types of developments
- Strengthening planning obligations to ensure new developments provide more affordable homes; making changes to the Affordable Homes Programme to ensure it delivers more homes from existing funding; and supporting councils and housing associations to build their capacity and make a greater contribution to affordable housing supply
- Prioritising the building of new social rented homes and better protecting existing stock by reviewing the increased right to buy discounts introduced in 2012 and increasing protections on newly-built social housing.
Reform UK
Reform UK has pledged to deliver critical reforms within the first 100 days that include:
- Reviewing the planning system, which involves fast-track planning and providing tax incentives for the development of brownfield sites, including unused offices and vacant high street properties. Section 106 Developer Contributions for infrastructure, such as schools and surgeries will also be reviewed to accelerate housebuilding
- Scrapping the 2019 tax changes for landlords to encourage smaller landlords into the rental markets
- Abolishing the Renters’ (Reform) Bill and boosting the monitoring, appeals and enforcement process
- [Post-100 days] Incentivising the use of new construction technology, such as modular construction and smart infrastructure
- [Post-100 days] Encouraging more homegrown qualified traders through new apprenticeships and vocational courses.
Liberal Democrats – ‘We will ensure that everyone can access housing that meets their needs.’
The Liberal Democrats have pledged to deliver a fair deal on housing by:
- Increasing the building of new homes to 380,000 a year across the UK, including 150,000 social homes a year, through new garden cities and community-led development of cities and towns
- Delivering a fair deal for renters by immediately banning no-fault evictions, making three-year tenancies the default and creating a national register of licensed landlords
- Giving local authorities, including National Park Authorities, the powers to end Right to Buy in their areas
- Abolishing residential leaseholds and capping ground rents to a nominal fee, so that everyone has control over their property.
Green Party – ‘Providing fairer, greener homes for all’
The Green Party has pledged to provide 150,000 new social homes every year through:
- New build and the purchase/refurbishment of older housing stock
- A community right to buy for local authorities for several categories of property
- Ending the individual ‘right to buy’, to keep social homes for local communities in perpetuity.
Right Homes, Right Place, Right Price Charter
The Green Party’s Right Homes, Right Place, Right Price Charter is aimed at protecting valuable green space for communities, reducing climate emissions, tackling fuel poverty and providing genuinely affordable housing. It will:
- Require local authorities to spread small developments across their areas
- Require all new developments to be accompanied by the extra investment needed in local health, transport and other services
- Ensure that all new homes meet Passivhaus or equivalent standards and house builders include solar panels and heat pumps on all new homes, where appropriate.
Fairer, Greener Homes Guarantee
The Green Party is pushing for a local-authority-led, street-by-street retrofit programme to insulate homes, provide clean heat and start to adapt buildings to more extreme climate conditions. This would involve investing:
- £29bn over the next five years to insulate homes to an EPC B standard or above as part of a ten-year programme
- £4bn over the next five years to insulate other buildings to a high standard
- £9bn over the next five years for low-carbon heating systems (e.g. heat pumps) for homes and other buildings.
Mike Bristow, CEO of CrowdProperty comments:
“While it’s encouraging – though not new – to hear party leaders promising more homes in the UK, everyone wants to understand how the building of any number of new homes will be supported. Any Government initiatives that make more land and sites available, expedite the planning process and support the skills and trades needed to deliver new homes are welcome, but they need to act fast and be decisive.
“The reality is the 1.5m (Labour) and 1.6m (Conservatives) new homes commitment for the next parliamentary term is a huge step change from the 1.01m completed over the last five years, especially when housebuilding starts in 2023 were only 176,000, and starts in the second half of 2023 were down 44% on the previous year.
“In the 1980s, 39% of new homes were being built by SME developers. Now it’s just 10%. The key point is: the demand and appetite for more homes is a clear point of public, and therefore Government concern, and policy direction will be strongly pro-housebuilding. This creates an opportunity for SME property developers to be a key part of the solution, especially as the economy strengthens.
“As a specialist lender that is actively funding ground-up builds to large-scale conversions of commercial buildings into homes, CrowdProperty's mission is to unlock the potential of small and medium-sized property developers to build more much-needed homes, helping them grow their businesses quicker and drive spend in the economy on labour, materials and services. As we’ve already proven, we help the SME developer segment build more and bring the benefits of political priorities to the market quickly and efficiently, which we will continue to be at the forefront of.”
* Details correct as of 21 June 2024.
Our June 2024 State of the Market provides an overview of the latest key property market updates and insights for small and medium-sized property developers.
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