Shadow housing minister accuses Labour of ‘return to garden grabbing’ as government unveils planning changes

Ministers have said the changes will lead to more homes being built faster in every region of the UK.

But the Tories have claimed Labour are planning to build new housing on existing residential gardens, and targeting green belt land.

The Government has made changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) that include default approvals for homes near train stations and high-rise developments in towns and cities.

They also want to make it easier for developers to build higher density housing on smaller sites, and unused plots.

In what has been described as the most significant overhaul of planning requirements for more than a decade, the changes are set to pave the way for increased development on greenbelt land in certain circumstances.

Read more: 'Reckless' Westminster council accused of wasting £27m on doomed building firm

Read more: Arrests will be made over 'globalise the intifada' chants, police chiefs confirm in wake of Bondi Beach attack

Proposed changes to the NPPF include default approvals for homes around rail stations and high-rise developments in towns and cities, with high-quality designs for eco-friendly homes fast-tracked.

Housing Secretary Steve Reed said: “Right now we see a planning system that still isn’t working well enough. A system saying ‘no’ more often than it says ‘yes’ and that favours obstructing instead of building.

“It has real-world consequences for those aspiring to own a home of their own and those hoping to escape so-called temporary accommodation. We owe it to the people of this country to do everything within our power to build the homes they deserve.

“We’ve already laid the groundwork to get Britain building but our planning overhaul was only the first step to fix the housing crisis we face.

“And today I’m going further than ever before to hit 1.5 million homes and place the key to homeownership into the hands of thousands more hard-working people and families.”

Under the new policy, railway stations will be classified as well-connected based on the number of train services available and the economic performance of the area.

Development within a 15-minute walk of the station will then be permissible, even if it is within the greenbelt, with the only requirement being a minimum density requirement of 50 dwellings per hectare.

This “default yes” approach will apply near stations “within existing settlements and around well-connected stations outside settlements”, housing minister Matthew Pennycook told the Commons.

He said the move was part of a “targeted series of changes to drive urban and suburban densification, including through the redevelopment corner and other low-density plots, upward extensions, infill development and residential curtilages”.

The Government is seeking to make it easier for developers to build higher density housing on smaller sites and underused land.

The aim is also to streamline standards on energy efficiency and other requirements to provide greater clarity for housebuilders, while developments which support local businesses, improve town centres or boost shops, restaurants and leisure facilities will be given preferential treatment.

In addition, the changes seek to give certainty for developers so they can provide housing for various groups, including the elderly and those with disabilities.

Mr Pennycook admitted “progress” towards meeting Labour’s manifesto pledge, to build 1.5 million new homes by the end of this Parliament, had been “slow”.

He told MPs: “Progress towards that ambitious 1.5 million new homes target was always going to be slow in the early years of this Parliament.

“After all, the Government inherited a housing market downturn exacerbated by the conscious and deliberate decisions of ministers in the previous Conservative government to make a series of anti-supply changes to national planning policy, including the abolition of mandatory housing targets.”

Conservative shadow housing minister Gareth Bacon labelled the Government’s housebuilding record “dreadful”, adding it would take seven years to meet the manifesto commitment.

“This Labour Government's last planning framework began pushing development onto rural areas, prioritising concreting over the green belt and green fields - rather than focusing on supporting building in urban areas where we need to build most,' he told MPs.

“It sounds as though the Government is going to double down on this with an all-out assault on the green belt.

“In London under their abysmal mayor (Sir Sadiq Khan), for the last decade Labour have conspicuously failed to build the right amount of housing.

“And now they are going to fail to build the right kind of housing in the right places in the rest of England.

“Clearly preferring to target building in rural areas, while not building in the cities and urban areas where demand is highest and much of the necessary infrastructure already exists.”

Mr Bacon added: “This Labour Government is intent on ignoring the voices of local people up and down the country while imposing top-down housing targets, disproportionately in rural areas.

“The reality that Labour is prioritising building on rural areas while claiming it is grey belt land. They are now returning to something the previous Labour government did, namely garden-grabbing.”

Mr Pennycook replied: “Building on our brownfield passports this will mean in practice that the development of suitable urban land will be acceptable by default.

“That is a doubling down of a brownfield-first approach.”

Liberal Democrats housing and communities spokesman Gideon Amos accused the Government of giving up on sustainable development, adding the framework “reads like it was written in the Treasury, which sees the benefits only of development and none of the costs to communities or to nature”.

Mr Pennycook replied: “He seeks to give the impression that there are no safeguards on development in the new framework. That is not true.”

In a statement, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “For too long our economy has been held back by a housing system that slows growth, frustrates business, and prices the next generation out of a secure home.

“These reforms back the builders not the blockers, unlock investment and make it easier to build the 1.5 million new homes across every region – rebuilding the foundations of our economy and making affordable homes a reality for working people once again.”

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government said the measures will “pave the way for a clearer, rules-based system which means ticking the right boxes will bring communities, councils and builders together to turn plans on paper into spades and cranes, as part of the fundamental rewrite of national policy in over a decade”.

“And to help make sure these new decision-making policies make a difference quickly, the Government is proposing that they effectively override conflicting local policies from day one,” it added.

The measures follow changes to the National Planning Policy Framework that came into force in December, which included mandatory housing targets for councils and incentives to develop on lower-quality land in the green belt.