The BBC has obtained information from the industry consultation underway on the new mandatory private housing targets for local authorities, which include responses to the Government saying that achieving its 1.5 million homes target is “unrealistic” and “impossible.”
Sir Keir Starmer and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner have prioritised driving housebuilding as a means to growth, but the 317 local authorities who have responded to the consultation do not all accept the targets proposed. The Government is asking them to take on targets for new privately-built housing developments, not just social housing.
There have been concerns that the algorithm used to calculate the local targets has not taken into account strains on local infrastructure, land shortages, and a lack of capacity both in the planning system and construction industry. Rural areas are being asked to shoulder more development than with the previous Government’s targets.
Two Labour councils – Broxtowe and South Tyneside, respectively described the proposed changes as “very challenging, if not impossible to achieve,” and “wholly unrealistic.” Independent-run council Central Bedfordshire, said it would be left “absolutely swamped with growth that the infrastructure just can not support.”
The Government has said that it will respond to the consultation before the end of 2024.