Housing Supply

This Government are committed to delivering 1.5 million quality homes over this Parliament. Under the Tories, house building plummeted as they bowed to pressure from their Back Benchers to scrap local housing targets. We are taking bold action to reform our planning system, deliver a new generation of new towns and unblock stalled housing sites.

I recently met members of Dover district council, who told me that they are keen to help the Government where they can to deliver our ambitious housing targets. Around the edge of Dover High Street we often see consistently empty units. What can the Government do to help us turn those into the housing that our community so badly needs, and will the Minister meet me to discuss how we can help?

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Compulsory purchase orders can be used by local authorities to acquire empty properties where the authority can demonstrate that the acquisition would be in the public interest. I am also aware that there is a problem with homes built under section 106 agreements being left empty. The Government will continue to work with house builders, local authorities and affordable housing providers to tackle the problems. I am sure that the Housing Minister will be happy to meet him.

Will the Secretary of State consider allowing councils the ability to buy land for houses based on current use rather than hope value, and commit to reforming the Land Compensation Act 1961?

The hon. Member will know that we are looking at a number of measures to help council houses to be built. Further measures will be announced in the Budget, as I have mentioned in a written ministerial statement today. We want councils and social housing providers to be able to build those homes, and we will help them as much as we can.

We know that the barriers to building more houses in towns such as those I represent in Makerfield are often political, not technical. For years, Conservative Members allowed themselves to become mouthpieces for the blockers and the naysayers, which is why, as co-chair of the Labour Growth Group, I welcome the commitment by the Secretary of State to back builders. What steps is her Department taking to increase the supply of housing in towns such as those I represent in Makerfield?

I welcome my hon. Friend to his place, and the reason he is here—he is absolutely correct on this—is that the previous Government did nothing to help house building, and we did not see growth either. This Government will reform our planning system, deliver a new generation of new towns, unblock stalled housing sites and reform the housing market, as well as delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable house building in a generation.

I call the Father of the House.

With so much good agricultural land now covered by solar panels, how will the Government incentivise builders to build on brownfield rather than good agricultural land, thus ensuring regeneration rather than imperilling food security?

The right hon. Member will know that we have already set out a number of steps, including the brownfield passport and the national planning policy framework, and the use of local housing targets to ensure that brownfield is used first and we get the houses that we desperately need. For the last 14 years, the Conservatives failed to meet their housing target every single year. This Government are determined to meet our target.

I call the shadow Minister.

Certainty for councils is vital for housing delivery, but given the uncertainty created by the Government’s new top-down targets, which will delay the implementation of local plans and therefore planning decisions, how confident are the Government of meeting their housing targets?

Britain is facing the sharpest housing crisis ever because of the failure of Conservative Members. We will ensure, through our mandatory housing targets and in the announcements that have been made, and that will be made in the Budget, that we get the houses that Britain needs. [Interruption.]

Order. I do not want to hear a conversation all the way through.

In the rush for numbers, we must not ignore the need to ensure that new homes are built to appropriate standards. Given that the Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, the hon. Member for Bethnal Green and Stepney (Rushanara Ali), has been stripped of responsibility for building safety because of conflicts of interest, can Ministers assure the House that the haste for targets will not undermine building safety?

We will ensure that houses are built to decent homes standards, which we have already set out, and that we meet those targets—unlike in the 14 years under the Conservatives.