Labour to block ‘Nimby’ councils from halting new homes on green belt

Sir Keir Starmer is to put himself on a collision course with “Nimby” councils within days of taking office as he pushes ahead with radical plans to build 1.5 million new homes over the party’s first term, if Labour wins next week.

Local authorities would be blocked from “stonewalling” developments on newly designated “grey belt” land, party insiders said.

Councils would be able to democratically approve new homes in the best places but it would be a case of “how” they are built, not “if”, sources said.

If Labour wins the election this Thursday, incoming deputy prime minister Angela Rayner would unveil the government’s new housebuilding programme within days.

This would include reclassifying supposedly poor quality areas of the green belt to “grey belt” – identified as car parks, scrubland and former tips – to free them up for development.

She would write to local authorities to instruct them to review their green belt land to identify potential grey belt areas to be reclassified and developed.

Labour insiders said the “smarter” release of green belt land would allow local people to get on the housing ladder and that low quality, ugly areas should not be protected from development.

The party will not apologise for ensuring homes get approved where councils “stonewall”, sources said.

Where will the new homes be built?

Labour has pledged to build 1.5 million new homes over five years if it wins office next week.

This target will need a radical reform of planning rules to free up land – including reclassifying low quality green belt land which is ripe for development, such as old car parks, scrubland and former tips, as “grey belt”.

This may see the new government pushing ahead with existing plans which have been so far limited – such as Michael Gove’s original project for 150,000 new homes near Cambridge.

There has also been speculation about developments in the Midlands, including areas near Nottingham, Stafford and Northampton near to the M1 and M6 motorways. Land near to the Thames estuary in Essex and Kent could also be identified for new developments.

In a joint interview with the Labour leader in The Sunday Times, shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said there was an “urgency” for Labour to become the party of housebuilders because “we know that for kids like us today [from working-class backgrounds], some of those opportunities [to own a home] don’t exist”.

The tougher approach is likely to be resisted by some councils, particularly in Conservative and rural areas with large swathes of green belt land.

But the Tory government has failed to achieve its annual target of building 300,000 new homes, in part due to delays in the planning system.

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Labour has pledged to match the 300,000 a year target, although Sir Keir admitted in the interview that it may not be achieved in the first year but that the overall total of 1.5 million would be reached by the end of the five-year parliament.

Searchland, a specialist development site sourcing company, estimates that reclassifying just 1 per cent of green belt land could free up space for 738,000 new homes.

But the Tories warned the move would damage the environment.

Appealing to voters who are planning to desert the Conservatives for Labour or Reform this Thursday to return to his party, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden told Sky News: “The alternative is Keir Starmer, who has a plan that will involve putting up people’s taxes. Whether you’re a pensioner paying tax on your basic state pension, whether you’re a first-time buyer, paying tax on your first home, and plans that will involve less control of migration and building on our green belt.”

If elected, a Labour government would publish a draft national planning policy framework which would reimpose targets for councils to meet local housing demand.

It would also, if elected, recruit 300 planning officers to speed up planning permission and prioritise local people for new homes.

Election 2024

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