John Healey MP, Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Member for Housing, responding to reports that the Government will legislate to ensure councils have local plans in place by 2017, said:

“Every area should have a local plan in place. It’s been part of the five years of failure on housing under this Government that a large number of areas still don’t have plans to meet housing demand and to stop developers having a free hand. 

“For years the Government have been promising action but haven’t delivered. This failure across the board has meant five years of higher rents, more homelessness, home-ownership falling every year, and the lowest rate of house-building since the 1920s.”