Families in Greater Manchester waiting three years for 'suitable' housing
It comes as the Government announces flexibility when it comes to local councils meeting their housing targets
Last updated 8th Dec 2022
The Government has watered down local housebuilding targets to avoid the first major Commons rebellion of Rishi Sunak's premiership.
A homelessness charity based in Manchester dis-agrees with the decision. Jo Walby is from the Mustard Tree, she says: "We've got too many examples of families in temporary accommodation across Greater Manchester who have no housing to move in to.
"Being told that it's not a priority, or that you can water down the targets to try and build accommodation, is offensive really."
Jo continued to say: "There's been decades and decades of under investment, and decades and decades of lack of house building, so there aren't enough houses for people to move into which means the whole society suffers.
"It affects every single area of the population, and therefore it is a fundamental need to have a house, and it's more and more difficult for more and more people. We pay taxes to the government, we vote them in, why can't they see that housing should be a priority? It's not something that can be allowed to be diluted."
Labour has accused the Prime Minister of being "weak" but Housing Secretary Mr Gove insisted the Government was delivering on the promised reforms to the planning system to make sure new homes were built: "I think it makes the Government look strong because we are delivering on the planning reform that we promised a year ago.
"When I arrived here I said that we wanted to have a planning system that put beauty and local democracy at the heart of our planning system, that is what we have got now thanks to close engagement with MPs who really care about getting the right homes in the right places."
In a letter to MPs on Monday, Mr Gove said the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill would be amended to abolish local mandatory housebuilding targets.
Mr Gove said he recognises "there is no truly objective way of calculating how many new homes are needed in an area" but that the "plan making process for housing has to start with a number".
The change would make the centrally determined target a "starting point", with councils able to propose building fewer homes if they faced "genuine constraints" or would have to build at a density that would "significantly change the character" of their area.
Downing Street said on Tuesday that a promise to build 300,000 homes every year by the mid-2020s remains a "goal".
The Bill is expected to return to the Commons next week for day two of its report stage.
The decision represents a victory for a group of Tory backbenchers led by Conservative former cabinet minister Theresa Villiers and Conservative MP Bob Seely, who had proposed a series of amendments to the Government's flagship Bill that would have meant sweeping changes to the planning system.
Around 60 MPs had signed an amendment that would have scrapped mandatory housing targets and the requirement for councils to demonstrate a five-year supply of housing land.
Supporters of the proposal said this would protect the environment and ensure communities were not forced to accept unwelcome development.
But some Conservatives were critical of the proposal, with 2019 Tory manifesto co-author Robert Colville saying it would "enshrine 'nimbyism' as the governing principle of British society".
Welcoming Mr Gove's announcement, Ms Villiers said the Government had "listened" and the reforms would "rebalance the planning system and give local communities a greater say over what is built in their neighbourhood".
She added: "The compromise we have secured shows that positive change can be achieved through backbench scrutiny of legislation."
Other changes agreed to by Mr Gove include charging a higher infrastructure levy on greenfield development, taking action to prevent land banking, and ending the "duty to cooperate" which sees rural and suburban areas required to help meet the housing need of neighbouring cities.
In the letter, Mr Gove said the Government would be "investing more homes in the North and the Midlands to relieve pressure on the South."
The Government has also promised to consult on requiring planning permission before residential property can be let out on websites such as Airbnb.