New Homes Target

Lord Young of Cookham Excerpts

Tuesday 21st October 2025 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Young of Cookham]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what progress they have made towards their target of building 1.5 million new homes.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, our Government remain committed to delivering 1.5 million homes over this Parliament. Through major planning reform and investment, we are breaking through the barriers to development and will build the homes this country needs. Our bold planning reforms alone will drive housebuilding in the UK to its highest rate in 40 years. The spending review confirmed the biggest boost to social and affordable housing investment in a generation, alongside significant investment through the national housing bank, reforms to the building safety regulator, a new mortgage guarantee scheme, a support package for SME builders and work on a comprehensive construction skills package. We are laying the strong foundations for a generational rocket boost to housebuilding.

[Lord Young of Cookham (Con)]

My Lords, 1.5 million is exactly what the country needs, but few outside government believe that this target is achievable. One in four of those homes would have to be built in London. London’s target for this year is 88,000 homes; by June, 4,000 had been completed. One reason that developers give for this slow progress is the target for affordable homes of up to 35%. Sites that were viable until recently are no longer. Can the Minister confirm that discussions are now taking place in Birmingham and London with a view to watering down the Government’s affordable homes programme in order to drive up completions? As one developer said, 35% of nothing is not a sensible policy.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I know the paper to which the noble Lord refers. With his ministerial experience, he will know that I cannot comment on leaked documents. However, let us make no mistake that London and the mayor are extremely ambitious about delivering the housing that London needs. The Government recognise its unique challenges, including higher build and labour costs, which have contributed to falls in starts and completions in the capital. We are working in partnership with the mayor and the GLA to accelerate housing delivery and are supporting the development of an ambitious next London Plan. We are already taking action to accelerate housebuilding through planning reform and unlocking large-scale developments such as at Euston. We are also supporting stalled sites in the capital via the new homes accelerator. London will be allocated up to 30% of the £39 billion social and affordable homes programme, granting approximately £11.7 billion to the GLA to support housing delivery in London.