Like a breath of fresh air, we now have a government that actually appears to be governing.
OK, it’s only 10 days since the General Election but I can’t remember a 10 day period in the preceding….oh, five years….when the then-government appeared more interested in running the country than fighting amongst its own members or concocting some phoney culture war or holding an illegal party.
So inevitably the Starmer administration has won rapid praise, mostly from house builders and some housing groups, with only the odd churlish remark from a few property ‘doyens’.
And the new government has set itself a stiff test which successive administrations have failed in the past: ambitious house-building targets.
You sense that Starmer means business and if there’s an early hiccup in the housing plans he has hatched with Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner, he will spot it and address it. He has to, for his reputation and a second term rely on it.
But having dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s in big picture terms, laying down a substantial house building agenda, will he address some under-the-radar details too? There are three that come to mind.
Firstly, planning officers.
Starmer has pledged another 300, which is roughly only one per planning authority. That in itself is hardly transformative but, put bluntly, he will have to improve quality as well as quantity.
A developer contact of mine says private property companies pay higher rates and thus attract better planners than do councils. The result? Council planners move slowly, bogged down by red tape, and then get out-witted by sharper private consultancy planners if there is a council-developer conflict.
Now hopefully there will be fewer such conflicts but the point remains. Starmer would be well advised to make sure councils employ better, and better trained, planners to help the mammoth house building task that lies ahead.
Secondly, there will be Labour back-benchers.
Even the largest government payroll rarely reaches 150 in number, meaning there will be some 250 or so backbenchers. Each has the potential to be a loose cannon and many will be in marginal seats, especially as Reform UK split the right-wing vote in some areas.
Will they toe the Labour line about new homes and growth? Or will some, under pressure, resort to the small minded NIMBY-ism that has typified the Conservative approach to housebuilding in recent years?
If they push back, it would be sensible for Starmer to be as sharp with his response to them as he has been to Jeremy Corbyn and some other off-message candidates in recent years.
Thirdly, there is a threat from local (mostly Labour) councils.
If it’s a worry for the new government that some Labour MPs may campaign against some house-building, then it’s a near dead-cert that many Labour councils and councillors will campaign against new developments. Why? Because of the electoral cycle.
A local election almost every year in many areas means thousands of wards will have at least one councillor highly sensitive to complaints about more new homes. If Starmer was sensible he would revert to local councillors being elected en bloc every four years, to give some breathing space between elections.
If there’s one thing Sir Kier has no shortage of right now, it’s advice. So I don’t hold out hope for these changes taking place.
But no matter how uncomfortable the next few years might be in terms of arguments from local people (code for existing home owners) it’s incumbent on all of us to remember that younger generations need a chance to buy their own home, too.
So let’s raise a glass to YIMBYs. Soon may they reign.
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He might just put his mind to exactly where he’s going to magically find the properly skilled tradesmen / women to build these properties.
Are they going to have a 3-5 year apprenticeship campaign or will they be putting potential tradesmen through fast track 6 month courses.
To build good quality homes we need good quality tradespeople.
We don’t have that so could easily end up with a large amount of substandard homes
We will see.
so many tradesmen given up as had to have their vans destroyed for ULEZ
Labour will not get 1.5 million homes built over the next 5 years. As Peter (above) says, the skilled workers aren't available in sufficient numbers. Also, the NIMBY lobby will not just roll over meekly - and will definitely use their voting power accordingly, especially at the local level. Finally, it's not just homes that are needed,it's infrastructure too - adequate roads, public transport, schools, doctors, dentists, etc.
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