Labour party conference: getting back to building
Policy Director
Housebuilding is at the very heart of the Government’s ambitions. Many of its missions — and in particular its determination to boost economic growth — hinge on resolving a policy puzzle that is very often surrendered to the ‘too difficult’ box.
As befits our ‘Reimagining the Local State’ programme — which has no fear of the ‘too difficult’ box — I was lucky enough to chair a panel event on this topic, bringing together a group of genuine experts to explore the problem – and consider the possible solutions.
We were joined by not one but two Combined Authority Chief Executives: Caroline Simpson from Greater and Dr Henry Kippin from the North East. Anthony Okereke, the leader of Greenwich Borough Council, provided a political perspective from London’s incredibly high-demand housing environment. Peter Foster, the highly respected Public Policy Editor from the Financial Times, offered his assessment of the plans emerging from Government, while Stefan Webb — a Senior Partner from our panel sponsor TPXimpact — brought a wealth of experience working with government on place and infrastructure.
Two big takeaways from me from this discussion:
1) Government’s big housing targets remain implausible, and this complicates the political incentives for getting more building done. The reality is that successive governments have promised to galvanise more building, and that the prevailing approach of seeking to create the conditions for building rather than directly entering the market at scale has not led to the kind of new build numbers that the current target would demand. Recent announcements and measures — revisions to the planning framework, new ways of getting building done on brownfield sites, effective zoning policies — will likely make a difference. Nevertheless, several panellists agreed that they would not get the Government to its goal of 1.5 million new homes.
2) Devolution will be an asset for efforts to ‘get back to building’ – if you get it right and back it up. This is a nuanced point, though: sometimes the powers that local and combined authorities are seeking are about working through — and if necessary overriding — the objections of local people (which adds up to a strange kind of ‘devolution revolution’. And, crucially, devolution of powers and the ‘architecture’ of decisions in this area — even if big sector wishes like a shift to how Homes England operates, or far better data usage, are met — will not ultimately be enough. Real devolution will need to see Whitehall letting go instead of micromanaging. And local government will need additional resource too as it recovers from an outright financial crisis in the sector. This is a big ask when most parts of the public sector are still bracing themselves for further fiscal belt-tightening.
3) Government still needs to puzzle out why meeting the extraordinary demand for homes in some parts of the country is such a challenge. Regulatory change, while welcome, will not resolve an environment where London’s red-hot market nevertheless does not see many new builds – and, as was noted in the event, the new targets reduce the number of homes expected in London while boosting the targets in places where demand is far lower.