Oral Answers to Questions

Angela Rayner Excerpts

Monday 7th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Ben Goldsborough (South Norfolk) (Lab)]

6. What recent progress she has made on the new towns programme.

[The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Angela Rayner)]

Our vision for the next generation of new towns is setting the stage for a house building revolution in the years to come. These will be well-connected, attractive places with all the infrastructure and services needed to sustain thriving communities, including public transport, GP surgeries and schools.

[Peter Swallow]

Bracknell was designated a new town 76 years ago in the aftermath of world war two, and it has been a huge success, in part because of the way it was designed, with leisure facilities, access to nature and transport links built into the town’s DNA. As the Government look to build the next generation of new towns, will my right hon. Friend commit to learning from the new towns that went before?

[Angela Rayner]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. There is a lot to admire from the past, including in new towns such as Bracknell. We are learning the lessons from the past for our next generation of new towns, to ensure that they are well connected, well designed, sustainable and attractive places, where people want to live, and it is important that they have the infrastructure, amenities and services that they need to thrive.

[Ben Goldsborough]

The housing crisis is an issue in not just our city centres but our rural communities. A new town would be excellent for our area of South Norfolk. It would help tackle our local housing crisis and ensure that we could deliver affordable housing for local people, where they need it.

[Angela Rayner]

I agree with my hon. Friend that the housing crisis is a challenge across the whole of England. The independent new towns taskforce is reviewing submissions to the call for evidence as it continues its work on recommending locations for new towns. The responses to the call for evidence will support the taskforce’s work of developing its recommendations, and the responses demonstrate significant enthusiasm across the country.

[Mr Mark Francois (Rayleigh and Wickford) (Con)]

Our local paper, The Echo, revealed last week that Labour-led Southend council and Lib Dem-led Rochford council are planning to build a new town of up to 10,000 houses on the border between the two. I understand that if this is done under the new towns fund, those numbers would be in addition to Rochford’s housing target, rather than making up part of the target. We would be talking about building nearly 20,000 properties by 2043, which is totally unsustainable, given that our infrastructure is creaking as it is. Can the Secretary of State confirm whether those new-town houses on the Rochford side would go towards our meeting the target or be in addition to it?

[Angela Rayner]

We have not selected the positions for the new towns; the new towns taskforce is still working on those. We have been clear that what the new towns will deliver will be over and above the targets for housing produced through the standard methods, but this is not one of those new towns, because we have not chosen them yet.

[Rebecca Smith (South West Devon) (Con)]

In the new town of Sherford, which is already being built in my constituency, there will be up to 5,500 new homes built over the coming years. However, there are challenges around FirstPort, the delayed delivery of a supermarket and other vital local amenities, and delays and escalating costs relating to the delivery of a new GP surgery. Also, National Grid pylons are being moved to make way for further new homes, at enormous cost to the taxpayer. What conversations is the Secretary of State having with key providers of national infrastructure, including the NHS and National Grid, to ensure that such obstacles are removed, so that these homes can be built?

[Angela Rayner]

We are bringing forward the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, as the hon. Member knows, and we have set mandatory targets. Unlike the previous Government, we believe that infrastructure has to come through this process, and we are working across Government to ensure that. We are already pushing further on section 106 notices in our work with developers. We are telling them that we want the houses, need the infrastructure, and want them to do this properly.

[Cameron Thomas (Tewkesbury) (LD)]

2. What steps she is taking to ensure that new homes are sustainable.

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[The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Angela Rayner)]

Our country is in the midst of a housing crisis, decades in the making. As our plan for change set out, the Government are committed to the biggest increase in social and affordable housing in a generation. We have already taken decisive action to increase the supply of new homes, with bold reforms to the planning system and the launch of the new homes accelerator programme, which will unblock thousands of homes stuck in the planning system. In the spring statement, we announced a £2 billion down payment to deliver up to 18,000 new social and affordable homes, and we are investing £600 million in training for new construction jobs.

[Katie Lam]

Demand for housing is greatest in London, which is where the economy most needs new homes. Building in London means less pressure on commuting infrastructure and house prices in places like rural Kent, but the housing targets for London have been cut. The Government justify that by saying that London has

“the biggest proposed percentage increase against delivery”.—[Official Report, 12 December 2024; Vol. 758, c. 1067.]

Why is the right hon. Lady rewarding the London Mayor’s failure to build Britain’s most needed houses with lower targets?

[Angela Rayner]

We are asking London to deliver record levels of house building. Our revised standard method sets the housing need for London at nearly 88,000 homes per year. The previous Government artificially boosted targets for London using an extra 35% urban uplift. That resulted in a target of nearly 100,000 homes—a third of the previous national target—which could not be justified. The London Mayor has started building more new council homes than at any time since the 1970s. He is getting on with building homes while the Tories have failed and are the blockers.

[Andrew Cooper]

With around 1.3 million people on housing registers in England, it is vital that we achieve a step change in the supply of housing, particularly social housing, over this Parliament; however, in my constituency and across the north-west, housing associations are managing many ageing, low-quality homes that require ongoing investment and maintenance. Homes for the North warns that many of these properties will become uninhabitable and unsuitable for social housing over the next decade. What consideration has my right hon. Friend given to targeting the renewal of social housing, such as through pooling funding with money for decarbonisation, so that registered social landlords can use the money flexibly to combine retrofit, demolition and new build? That would drive regeneration and reduce carbon emissions.

[Angela Rayner]

My hon. Friend is right to highlight the absolute mess that the previous Government left our housing stock in. We will ensure the biggest increase in social house building in a generation, and provide safe, warm and decent homes, by introducing minimum energy efficiency standards and reviewing the decent homes standard. Recent funding includes £1.29 billion for the warm homes social housing fund, £800 million in top-ups to the current affordable homes programme, and a £2 billion down payment on the future programme, which will be used for regeneration projects that will result in a net increase in the number of homes.

[Graham Stuart (Beverley and Holderness) (Con)]

The housing numbers for London were cut by 20% by the Government, but again and again we find in Hansard the Secretary of State asserting that 1.5 million homes will be built during this Parliament in England. Why did the Chancellor tell us a few days ago that only 1.3 million will be built across the whole of the UK, and will the Secretary of State please confirm that the 1.5 million target has gone?

[Angela Rayner]

The Minister for Housing and Planning answered this question just a moment ago. Perhaps my Mancunian accent will help: the OBR scored the national planning policy framework changes that we have already made. That is where that figure came from. Our other plans, including the new homes accelerator programme, the money that we have invested since then, and the changes in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, mean that the number will increase, and we will meet our 1.5 million homes target. I do not think that I can put it much clearer than that.

[Dame Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch) (Lab/Co-op)]

There is a real housing crisis in Hackney, where we spend £54 million a year on temporary accommodation. I visit families, most of them working families, in tragically overcrowded accommodation. We need this social housing as quickly as possible, and I know my right hon. Friend is putting her shoulder to the wheel. Will she visit Hackney to see the work that the council has been doing to build properly affordable social rented council housing? The council could do so much more with more Government support.

[Angela Rayner]

We have over 160,000 children in temporary accommodation, as I have said at the Dispatch Box a couple of times, and it is a scandal that we are in this situation. That is why the Government are making these changes. We make no apology for changing the mandatory housing targets to get Britain building again, because we need those homes and those kids deserve better. We also need to cut the number of children living in temporary accommodation, including B&Bs. We are determined to do that.

[Uma Kumaran (Stratford and Bow) (Lab)]

4. What steps her Department is taking to work with local councils to prevent homelessness.

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[David Davis (Goole and Pocklington) (Con)]

T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Angela Rayner)]

I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, which states that I am a trade union member.

Let me update the House on the waste dispute in Birmingham. Our priority is tackling the misery and disruption caused to residents. The Government have consistently urged the council and Unite to sit down and resolve the dispute; it is welcome that they met yesterday and that further talks are taking place today, but we continue to press all parties to negotiate that urgently needed resolution.

It is essential to protect public health by tackling the backlog of waste, and my Department is in close contact with the council. This weekend I met the council leader and the managing director, and we are providing ongoing support to address the public health emergency. Collections took place over the weekend, and will continue this week to clear the backlog and protect public health. The Government continue to support Birmingham’s recovery.

[David Davis]

Needless to say, everyone wishes the Secretary of State well with that.

In March, the Chancellor said:

“The regulatory system has become burdensome to the point of choking off innovation, investment and growth. We will free businesses from that stranglehold”.

In my constituency, the Finnish company Metsä Tissue wants to invest hundreds of millions to build a state-of-the-art tissue manufacturing plant. The investment will provide 400 direct jobs, thousands of other jobs and £30 million a year for the local economy, but although the site is a freeport, the investment is hampered by monumental costs of £113 million to make it ready, although the same process on an equivalent site in Sweden will cost £4.5 million. What are the Government doing to correct this problem?

[Angela Rayner]

We have been doing a lot to try to ensure that, under this Government, taxpayers get value for money from the fair and reasonable amounts that we can invest to make land ready for development. As the right hon. Member said, we have the freeports—some of them a legacy from the previous Government—but we want to see infrastructure built, which is why we are bringing forward the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. We have committed ourselves to 150 new major infrastructure projects, so hopefully we will kick-start the economy in a way that his Government was unable to.

[Darren Paffey (Southampton Itchen) (Lab)]

T2. I was delighted recently to see civic and business leaders in Southampton join the Labour council in launching their Renaissance Vision, setting out an ambitious agenda for regeneration and house building in the city. What steps will the Government take in the upcoming spending review to support and enable house building visions such as this?

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[Kevin Hollinrake (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

The effects of the Birmingham bin strike have been declared a major incident, they are a national embarrassment, and with 21° temperatures forecast for later this week, they will become a public health emergency. While Labour Members in Birmingham are busy campaigning for an airport in Pakistan, the Secretary of State is unwilling to visit the city or take on Unite. Is that because of the tens of millions of pounds that her party receives from Unite, or, indeed, because of the £10,000 that she received for her own election campaign?

[Angela Rayner]

I thought the shadow Secretary of State was better than that, but heigh-ho.

This is a local dispute, and it is right that the negotiations are led locally. We have made it clear that both parties should get round the table, and I am pleased that that happened on Sunday and talks continue today. Birmingham city council did declare a major incident last week; we expect the rubbish to be cleared, we expect the parties to get round the negotiating table, and we expect this to be sorted out.

[Kevin Hollinrake]

The right hon. Lady still has not explained why she has not visited the city to look at this issue at first hand.

The right hon. Lady’s manifesto sets out the issue of preserving the green belt. In this very House, she said that she would transform grey-belt land such as wasteland or old car parks, but also that she would protect the green belt. In its report accompanying the spring statement last week, the Office for Budget Responsibility stated that most of the additional homes delivered—up to 500,000, according to her—will be built on the green belt. Is it not the case that she has conned the public with her grey-belt policy, and that she has unintentionally misled this House?

[Angela Rayner]

I thought the hon. Member was going to do better, but he did not. The Minister for Local Government was in Birmingham on Thursday, and I am always happy to visit Birmingham. It is a great city and has always been a fantastic place, and I have probably been there more times than the hon. Member has. Under the Tories, the number of homes approved on green-belt land increased nearly tenfold since 2009, so I will not take any lectures. We have said that we will develop on brownfield sites first, and we are taking action to make sure that we deliver the homes and infrastructure that people need. He could learn a lot from me.

[Joe Morris (Hexham) (Lab)]

T3. At the end of January, 14,000 people were still on Northumberland county council’s social housing waiting list, yet hundreds of properties right across the county, including in rural Allendale, remain empty. Given the number of people on the housing list and in desperate need of accommodation, it is a disgrace that the Conservative administration has left them empty for so long. Does the Minister agree that a Labour council, backed by a Labour Government, will do much more to get people off the housing list and into homes?