Government will meet target of 1.5m homes, says Rayner after watchdog forecast

The Government will meet its target of building 1.5 million homes over five years, the Deputy Prime Minister has said, as she took questions about a watchdog forecast which appeared to lower this figure to 1.3 million.

Angela Rayner said the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast, that the UK’s housing stock would rise by 1.3 million by 2029-30, “will increase” once further reforms are agreed, including the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

Speaking in the Commons on Monday, Conservative former minister Graham Stuart asked Ms Rayner to “confirm today that the 1.5 million target has gone”.

Ms Rayner told MPs that the OBR forecast scored changes last year to national planning rules, known as the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).

She said: “I don’t know if my Mancunian accent will help, as opposed to the minister (Matthew Pennycook) who answered this question just a moment ago, the OBR scored the NPPF changes we’ve already made, that’s where that figure came from.”

The Deputy Prime Minister added: “Our other plans, including the homes acceleration plan and the money that we’re investing since then, and the Planning Infrastructure Bill changes will mean that that number will increase and we will meet our 1.5 million homes target.

“I don’t think I can say it much clearer than that.”

Conservative shadow housing minister Paul Holmes had earlier said: “The Government’s much-lauded policy to build 1.5 million new and sustainable homes has been doomed from the start of this Parliament.”

He asked housing minister Mr Pennycook to say whether “the goalposts have changed” on housing targets.

Mr Pennycook replied: “I’m afraid he’s got this one completely wrong.

“The OBR estimated that our changes to the national policy framework alone will lead to an increase in housebuilding to 1.3 million.

“That doesn’t take into account the Planning and Infrastructure Bill and other changes coming forward.

“He’s simply wrong.

“We are on course for the 1.5 million homes in this Parliament.”

In its economic and fiscal outlook last month, the OBR found NPPF “reforms could boost housebuilding by 170,000 in total over the next five years, resulting in cumulative UK-wide net additions to the stock of 1.3 million from 2025-26 to 2029-30”.

The OBR noted that “the NPPF contains several measures including changes to local housebuilding targets” and “requirements for some local authorities to meet their targets by releasing parts of the green belt for housebuilding”.

Conservative shadow housing secretary Kevin Hollinrake later pointed to Labour promises to “protect green belt” and asked: “Is it not the case that she has conned the public with her grey belt policy and that she has unintentionally misled this House?”

The term “grey belt” refers to land in the green belt which has been previously developed or which does not contribute strongly to some of the green belt’s “purposes”.

Ms Rayner replied: “When we come to green belt, it was under the Tories the number of homes approved on green belt land increased nearly 10-fold since 2009, so I won’t take lectures.

“But what we have done is we’ve said ‘brownfield first’, we’ve taken the action to make sure we deliver those homes that people need, including the infrastructure. He could learn a lot from me.”