Ed Miliband MP, Leader of the Labour Party, today set out the first stages in Labour’s Plan for Britain’s Future which will help build the 200,000 homes a year needed by families and ease the pressure on small firms.
Speaking at the start of the Labour Party Conference in Manchester, he announced:
• Plans for New Homes Corporations to ensure the houses our country needs are built in places where Britain’s families want to live.
• A commitment to extend Labour’s plan to help small firms succeed by pledging not just to freeze business rates next year at 2014 levels, but to cut them.
Ed Miliband said:
“It’s great to be here in Manchester.
“The last few months have been about keeping our country together.
“The next eight months will be about how we can change our country together.
“Right across Britain, people are yearning for change.
“Constitutional change matters.
“But we all know something else matters even more.
“Our country doesn’t work for everyday working people and only works for a privileged few at the top.
“And we’ve got to change it.
“This Conference is for all those families who are treading water and not benefitting from the recovery.
“This Conference is for all the young people worried about their future.
“This Conference is for everyone who cares about our NHS which is sliding backwards.
“This week we will set out Labour’s Plan for Britain Future.
“Rewarding hard work.
“Ensuring the next generation does better than the last.
“And protecting and improving our public services.
“This week is about our plan to change Britain so it works for everyday working people not just a privileged few at the top.
“Our plan today begins with helping build the homes our country needs.
“So that young families can get a home of their own.
“Building a future for our young people.
“This is our last Conference before the general election.
“Britain needs a new Plan.
“Britain needs a new government.
“We’re going to make it happen.”
New Homes Corporations:
The numbers of new homes being built has fallen under this government to the lowest levels in peacetime since the 1920s with the shortage set to hit two million by 2020 – equivalent to five cities the size of Birmingham. That is putting the dream of home ownership out of reach for millions of young families and everyday working people.
Labour will tackle the shortage of homes by learning the lessons of the focused delivery of the 2012 Olympics, where a specific site was identified and then developed on time and on budget.
New Home Corporations will build on the approach from the Olympics, and today Mr Miliband will endorse this first key recommendation to emerge from the Lyons Housing Commission due to be published later this year. Under these plans all communities will have similar powers at their disposal as part of an extended devolution to English local government and its city and county regions.
Set up by local authorities, normally at devolved city and county region level where councils choose to collaborate, New Homes Corporations would be accountable to their communities and work closely with the private sector partners and housing associations commissioning a wider range of developers, including SMEs, to build out sites at pace.
The Lyons Commission estimates that New Homes Corporations could increase and accelerate the delivery of up to 500, 000 homes.
The policy, is designed to overcome three major constraints on house building
1. Give certainty that land will be developed
Too often land is held back because owners and developers do not have certainty that it will be built out.
New Homes Corporations will take responsibility for areas prioritised for development, and setting out the timetable over which that development will take place, giving owners certainty it will be built out at pace. This will remove the incentive to hold on to land because the timetable for development will be clear.
2. Better strategic planning and infrastructure delivery
Too often development stalls because the public does not have certainty that building will take place alongside the infrastructure needed to make it a success. This is compounded where some councils are failing to take responsibility for meeting the need of housing needs of local people.
New Homes Corporations will bring together enable large sites to be developed across local authorities boundaries including implementing the crucial infrastructure such as roads, schools and green spaces. Government funding will be routed through these bodies to ensure that infrastructure follow housing need.
3. More competition in house building
At present we rely on just a small number of volume house builders and as a result we build far fewer homes. Thirty years ago, small builders built nearly two thirds of homes – that proportion has now dropped to less than a third. Small house builder numbers are dwindling as they are locked out of land, hitting our capacity to build.
New Homes Corporations will drive competition and diversity among house builders by seeking new private partners for investment rather than relying simply on the existing large firms. With responsibility for master planning developments, they will have the powers to package up sites for building by housing associations and construction firms.
These new measures are in addition to policies already announced by Labour which are designed to meet the goal of getting 200,000 new homes built a year by 2020.
They include: Use it or lose it powers for local communities to tackle developers who unnecessarily landbank; a Help to Build scheme to help SME Builders access finance through the banks to get them building again; delivering a new generation of Garden Cities; giving landlocked councils a right to grow; and giving communities a greater share of the benefits from development.
Sir Michael Lyons, chair of the Lyons’ Housing Commission, said:
“We need to mobilise across the nation to build the homes our children need. More land released, a wider range of builders and a bigger role for local authorities working with their partners are all important.
“Our report will offer a comprehensive view of how these measures and others can help us get to 200,000 homes a year and beyond.”
Business Rates
In setting out a plan to make Britain work for everyday working people, Labour will also go further in cutting business rates to help small firms. Last year we announced that we would freeze business rates in 2015 and 2016 at 2014 levels for properties under £50,000. This was paid for by not going ahead with the Government’s plans for a further cut in Corporation Tax.
Now we can go further and cut business rates for these properties by one per cent in 2015. This is because the Corporation Tax cut for large businesses is forecast to cost even more than expected.