Homes and Planning Bill

Michelle Scrogham Excerpts

Friday 13th November 2026 Commons Chamber

[Michelle Scrogham (Barrow and Furness) (Lab)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for the opportunity to speak in this debate.

The concerns that this Bill seeks to address are genuine. Across the country, too many families are struggling to access secure and affordable housing. Young people are finding home ownership increasingly out of reach. Social housing waiting lists remain far too long and, in many communities, the growth of second homes and short-term lets has placed further pressure on already limited housing stock. Private rentals are becoming increasingly unaffordable. Far too often, we hear stories of the horrible conditions in which private tenants are forced to live. These are important challenges, and it is right that we dedicate time to solving them. However, I am not convinced that this Bill provides the remedy.

The Bill focuses on identifying opportunities for affordable housing through the “assets of community value” process. That requires parish and town councils, community land trusts and local charities to identify vacant or unused buildings, or land suitable for affordable housing. At present, such assets can include pubs, village shops, community centres and libraries, among others. The hon. Member for St Ives (Andrew George) wants to expand the framework to include land that is vacant or substantially unused. The Liberal Democrats were part of the coalition Government, who introduced the legislation. If they believe that the framework needs strengthening to support affordable housing, why did not they do that when they were in government?

The difficulty is that identifying land is not the same as building homes. Like other Members of this House, I am aware of many derelict and unused sites in my patch that would be perfect for redevelopment, but the challenge has never been knowing that these sites exist. The challenge has been securing the investment, planning capacity, infrastructure and long-term delivery required to turn those sites into homes that people can actually live in.

[Noah Law]

My hon. Friend makes a really important point. We can make changes to planning rules and regulations, but ultimately what matters for delivery is investment and making sites investable. Does she welcome the £40 billion or so that this Labour Government are putting into social and affordable homes, and the £65 million that we are putting aside for local community organisations to work on those kinds of projects on their high streets?

[Michelle Scrogham]

I absolutely agree that this Government’s interventions and funding will make those changes. This Bill, though, creates additional expectations, without addressing the problem of delivery.

The Liberal Democrats were not powerless observers during the worsening of our housing crisis; they spent five years in government. They sat at the Cabinet table, and they voted for coalition Budgets. They supported policies that saw local government funding slashed and planning departments across the country stretched ever more thinly. If they believed that local communities needed stronger powers to bring forward affordable housing sites, why did they not legislate for that when they were in office? The truth is that too often the Liberal Democrats seek to campaign against the consequences of decisions that they helped to make in government.

This Labour Government are pursuing a comprehensive strategy to tackle the housing crisis. We have committed to delivering 1.5 million social homes over this Parliament. At the 2025 spending review, the Government confirmed £39 billion in funding over the next 10 years, as has been mentioned. This provides the certainty needed for providers to plan ambitious housing development projects over the next 10 years.

[Ben Maguire]

I still fail to understand what measures the hon. Member’s Government are taking to tackle second homes and holiday lets, which, as so many hon. Members have explained, are adding fuel to the fire of the housing crisis. I welcome the social housing measures, but what is specifically being done in that area?

[Michelle Scrogham]

I welcome the hon. Member’s intervention. This Government have brought in the powers to increase taxes to tackle that issue. In my area, Liberal Democrat-run Westmorland and Furness council has benefited from that tax by several hundred million pounds. What worries me, though, is that the council has not actually tackled the heart of the problem. Nearly 8,000 households in my constituency are waiting for affordable houses, and there are 3,500 long-term empty homes. If the Liberal Democrats really wanted to get serious about fixing the situation, we have given them the tools to do so, yet Liberal Democrat-run Westmorland and Furness council has failed to do that. My area has the fifth highest number of long-term empty homes in England. We have given councils the tools, so I would suggest that the Liberal Democrats talk to their colleagues and perhaps press for some changes.

We are taking action to ensure that local authorities have the regulatory and financial powers to deliver on these commitments. We are reforming the national planning policy framework, restoring mandatory housing targets for local authorities and addressing concerns that the planning permission application process is too lengthy, complex and time consuming. The Government are devolving powers over spending on house building to regional mayors and combined authorities, so that they have greater power to address regional house shortages. We are enabling councils to retain 100% of the receipts from right-to-buy sales and allowing them to channel the money directly back into house building—something I am incredibly passionate about.

By reducing barriers, we are getting Britain building again. Although I respect the intentions behind the Bill, I do not believe that it provides the scale of reform necessary to meet the building challenge faced by this country, and nor can I ignore the irony of taking lectures from a party that had five years in government to address many of these issues and failed to do so. For those reasons, I cannot support the Bill. Instead, I back this Government’s programme to deliver the social and affordable homes that Britain needs.

--- Later in debate ---

Debate to be resumed on Friday 15 January 2027.

[Michelle Scrogham]

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I would just like to correct the record. In my speech earlier, I referred to hundreds of millions of pounds, rather than tens of millions.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I thank the hon. Lady for giving notice of her point of order, and for her promptness in correcting the record at the earliest opportunity.