We’ll bulldoze local blocks on housing, says Keir Starmer

Labour will need to override local opposition to deliver its plans for more housing, Sir Keir Starmer has warned.

The Labour leader told the BBC he would “bulldoze away” restrictive planning rules, and take on MPs and councils to build more homes.

He added that previous governments had been too fearful of local opposition to deliver the homes the country needs.

Building more housing is a question of “social justice,” he said.

He added that it was understandable that individual MPs would want to “stand up” for residents in their local areas.

But he added: “The role of government is obviously different. The role of government is to deliver on big projects.”

In his speech to the party’s annual conference in Liverpool on Tuesday, Sir Keir promised that, if elected, Labour would deliver more homes as part of a “decade of renewal”.

At the heart of the speech was a plan to use dedicated state-backed companies to build a wave of new towns near English cities, echoing those built by Labour after the Second World War.

He also said he would restrict the ability of councils to stop developments on under-used urban land, where developers can meet the criteria in a new planning rulebook encouraging Georgian-style townhouse blocks.

Speaking on to the BBC, he said the “very localised” nature of England’s planning system was “one of the problems we have”.

“There isn’t the ability to look across a wider area and say: ‘Where would the best place be for this development?’,” he added.

Delivering more homes, he conceded, would sometimes require taking on MPs and local councils opposed to new developments.

Asked if he would be prepared to tell local opponents of projects: “We hear you, but I’m afraid we’re ignoring you,” the Labour leader replied: “Yes. We’re going to have to do that.”

He added, however, this would not be a “crude exercise”, insisting the government would have to get the “balance right” when it came to factoring in opposition to plans.

“We are going to have to do things that previous governments haven’t done,” he said, including “bulldozing away” restrictive planning rules.

“Otherwise we’ll end up where we are now, which is talking about housing – this is the story of the last 13 years – but not actually getting very much done.”

The Labour leader has not said where or how many “new towns” it would build, saying it would run a six-month consultation inviting bids from councils.

Local authorities taking part would be able to put the affordable housing built towards meeting their housing quotas, under the party’s plans.

Labour has set a target to build 1.5m homes in England in five years if elected, broadly matching the government’s current ambition of delivering 300,000 new units a year from the mid-2020s.

Asked how Labour’s plan was different, Sir Keir said it had accompanied its proposals with a “plan for delivery”.

Adding that his commitments had been “robustly tested,” he said he was only prepared to put “bombproofed” proposals before voters at an election.

He added he was confident a future Labour government would get “more bids than we think” from councils to take part in its new homes programme.