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The government of Sir Keir Starmer will have to increase the number of planning authorizations granted in England each year by more than half to achieve its house construction objectives, according to data which highlights the extent of the challenge.
The number of houses having received a building permit in England last year has fallen low since 2014, according to figures from the Glenigan data supplier. This will have to increase by 53% to reach 370,000 planning authorizations that the workforce has established its national planning policy at the end of last year.
“The latest planning figures show that the supply of housing in short and means is at critical crisis levels,” said Neil Jefferson, managing director of Home Builders Federation Industry Group, who publishes the data.
The administration of Starmer has increased the construction of houses of a key commitment since its elected official last July, promising 1.5 million new houses over five years.
The ministers said that they had to go beyond the number of planning authorizations granted to reach this level of supply – the highest of a generation – because all authorized houses are not ultimately built.
The work criticizes the planning changes made by the former conservative government, under pressure from anti-development deputies, for the slowdown in the construction of houses. The contraction of the activity also reflects the impact of higher interest rates.
Glenigan figures, which are also used in official statistics, show that 242,610 houses obtained permission in England in 2024, down 2% compared to the previous year. But the data also shows that the authorizations included in the last quarter of the year.
Work reforms to the planning system have been praised by the house construction industry, but the HBF and the National Housing Federation have declared that these measures will not be sufficient alone to achieve the target of 1.5 million.
The criticisms of commercial manufacturers, which provide the vast majority of new houses in the United Kingdom, say that these companies deliberately build more slowly than they could do to control the offer and reach higher sales prices.
The industry argues that construction rates are limited by buyers’ demand, and say that the solution is that the government is helping buyers to a loan scheme similar to help, which took place from 2013 to 2023. The first buyers in particular fought with affordability given higher mortgage rates in the past two years.
Companies say local authorities are already responding to Westminster pressure following planning reforms.
Graham Protho, managing director of MJ Gleeson, who has divisions to build houses and land promotion, said that the authorities are increasingly approving developments to keep control of decision -making, rather than facing calls on their heads towards the central government.
He said that progress in field planning “are more positive than you think. We see it ”.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Authorities said: “This government has inherited a broken planning system. . . We have already taken decisive measures to put shovels in the ground. »»
