MHLCG believes 300,000 homes can be built across large sites
The government is aiming to speed up development on around 200 stalled sites by setting up a dedicated team of officials to help remove barriers to delivery.
The unit, which ministers are calling the New Homes Accelerator, will consist of around 15 dedicated officials across MHCLG and Homes England. It will be fully operational by the end of September but has started on some work now.
MHCLG said today it has identified 200 large, stalled sites with the potential for 300,000 homes.
The team of officials, which will be a mix of internal and external recruits, will work with local authorities and housebuilders to resolve local issues that are holding up development plans. It will deploy planning experts on the ground “to work through blockages” at each site identified. It could provide resources to support local planning departments where there are barriers.
MHCLG has also today called for landowners, councils and housebuilders to come forward with details of blocked sites that have significant planning issues, so the government “can better understand the scale of the problem across the country”.
MHCLG is also expected to retain Michael Gove’s £13m ‘super squad’ of planners to support large-scale development in addition to the new team.
Angela Rayner, housing secretary and deputy prime minister, said: “For far too long the delivery of tens of thousands of new homes has been held back by a failure to make sure the development system is working as it should.
“This government has a moral obligation to do everything within our power to build the homes that people desperately need and we won’t hesitate to intervene where we need to.
>>See also: The ins and outs of Labour’s new National Planning Policy Framework
>>See also: A boost for housebuilding or an ill-defined gimmick?: Labour’s ‘grey belt’ plans explained
“Our New Homes Accelerator will quickly identify blockages, fix problems and support local authorities and developers to get shovels in the ground.”
Meanwhile, housing minister Matthew Pennycook has written an open letter to local leaders in Cambridge pledging to work collaboratively to boost housing in the are. Housing targets across South Cambridgeshire, Cambridge and Cambridge East are seeing a proposed increase of around 25 per cent.
He said: “Greater Cambridge has a vital role to play in this government’s mission to kickstart economic growth. However, we realise that many crucial decisions remain to be made about the precise form that ambitious and high-quality sustainable growth takes in the area. I am determined that we take a collaborative approach to them.”
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