The Government has reached just over a quarter of the way to its target to build 1.5 million homes in England, after two years in power.
The Iran war is to blame for housebuilding slowing down, a minister has claimed as the Government is set to overhaul planning law to speed up new homes.
Housing minister Matthew Pennycook said building new homes is “extremely challenging” in large part because of the conflict between the USA and Tehran, as he was pressed on whether he was confident the Government would meet its manifesto commitment to build 1.5 million homes over the Parliament.
The conflict in the Middle East had seen “dampening demand”, he told broadcasters.
The Government has reached just over a quarter of the way to its target to build 1.5 million homes in England, after two years of the five-year Parliament.
Mr Pennycook told Times Radio: “There is no doubt that house builders across the country are finding things extremely challenging. The downturn that we inherited on coming into office and that we have pulled every lever to pull ourselves out of has been made worse by the conflict in Iran, and as a result, largely of that conflict, but not entirely, we’re seeing dampening demand.
“People are buying less homes, first-time buyer numbers are drying up, and materials costs, in particular, for developers are going up – so it is a really difficult time for house builders across the country.”
Asked whether he was confident the Government would meet its target, he said: “We stick by that target. As I said, that ambition is really important.”
Asked whether the target is an ambition or a commitment, he said: “It’s a commitment, it was in our manifesto, but to be very clear with your listeners, it is a really, really challenging time for the housing industry at present. Viability pressures are acute in lots of parts of the country. That’s why we’re pulling every lever and why we’re publishing today a new National Planning Policy Framework.
“This marks the culmination of a sustained effort over two years to ensure we’ve got a planning system that meets housing need in full and that unleashes economic growth and that will support developers through a faster, clearer, rules-based system that they can navigate.”
Ministers are set to publish new measures on Monday to streamline housebuilding in England.
Thousands more homes could be built near railway stations, pubs will be given extra protection from being closed and the planning system will be streamlined under the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said the shift to a “default yes” to developments around stations in England would help “tackle the housing crisis and raise living standards”.
Under the new NPPF published on Monday there will be default approval for homes built within “reasonable walking distance of well-connected stations”.
Despite Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s promises of devolution, the planning shake-up will also mean conflicting local positions will carry less weight if they are inconsistent with national decision-making policies.
The plans to protect pubs will make it harder for developers to turn them into flats or shops.
