Rocky Rayner Refuses To Recant
What chance 1.5 million homes by August 2029? Angela Rayner has unsteadily said it’s a slim chance if councils get building. And THAT pledge was a target not a promise.
The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government appeared on the 13th September edition of the BBC’s political debate programme Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. Kuenssberg asked if the Labour Party’s election pledge to build 1.5 million new homes in England alone before the next election was not going to be met with Rayner saying it was going to be difficult, there was a slim chance and it was a ‘stretch target’…at the very top end of what might be achievable.
The reality
Rayner’s own department has produced figures to say at current rates of building there is no way we’ll see 1.5 million homes.
203,000 were completed in England AND Wales and received energy performance certificates in the past year (to June 2026). The gestation period for many of these homes to reach completion means they went through planning consent hoops before Labour came to power.
Planning reform in England is dragging on. Rayner has written again to councils recently asking them to move quicker and to access funding from the Social and Affordable Homes Programme. £Billions have supposedly been set aside and some has actually been released.
As reported by Installation Eye here
Pennycook
Matthew Pennycook, the Minister of State for Housing and Planning, was a co-signatory to the letter. It is not the first time he has written and cajoled councils to accept reforms, but with little action in response.
The letter’s penultimate paragraph at least ends with a target: ‘Please return the completed form by 22 September (16 October for London Boroughs). Your responses will directly inform our thinking ahead of the Autumn Budget and help us target support where it can make the greatest difference’.
We expect every council to do its duty
The letter ends: ‘Government will continue to provide funding, support and greater local influence over investment. In return, we are asking every council to step up, use the resources available and work with us to build the homes our country urgently needs’.
What form?
The form reference is to the Open consultation Standard planning agreements for medium-sized sites which is part of a new National Planning Policy Framework which sets out the government’s policies for plan-making and for making decisions on development proposals in England and how these are expected to be applied – and agreed.
If Kuenssberg had known that the agreement bit is still not completed, she could easily have laughed in Rayner’s face; asked if she was ‘having a Turkish’; and gone full Jeremy Paxman on her. As it was, Rayner was left gabling uncomfortably
Watch Rayner & Kuenssberg on YouTube
It’s quicker by train
The government has insisted local authority planning committees take a ‘default yes’ stance to housing developments on brownfield/greyfield land near train, tube and tram stations.
Read the explanatory article here on Installation Eye
https://www.installationeye.com/article/know-your-station-and-stop-your-objecting
Planning is just part of the problem
Seeking planning permission is costly (another aspect the government is keen to address), as are delays, amendments and appeals. Refusals hurt. Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB recently said that building companies are also disincentivised to build new homes when they have faced a barrage of costs such as a hike in National Insurance contributions; and material price increases, which have been pushed up by energy costs and ongoing trade wars…plus interest rates that make selling built homes so difficult.
In the Kuenssberg interview, Rayner acknowledged the ‘headwinds’ that could scupper even getting close to her party’s pledge "But I'm definitely not giving it up," she said before moving on to council and affordable housing. “The Prime Minister wants us to make sure we’re building council houses. He’s made that absolutely, fundamentally clear. We’ve just announced £10 billion into a social and affordable homes programme. We’re seeing home starts up by 15% last year, so we are making a difference,” she declared.
That difference is still to manifest into new homes with new windows…but there are signs as the Strategic Partners to the Social and Affordable Homes Programme have been announced:
Organisation Homes Grant*
Abri Group Ltd 1,967 £350.0m
Accent Housing Ltd 1,340 £172.4m
Amplius Living 2,500 £320.5m
Aster Communities 1,320 £240.0m
Bromford Flagship Livewest Ltd 2,629 £350.0m
Cambridge City Council 803 £96.4m
Clarion Housing Association Ltd 2,977 £350.0m
Eastleigh Borough Council 1,042 £154.4m
EMH Housing & Regeneration 2,495 £314.5m
Great Places Housing Assoc 2,600 £320.6m
Hyde Housing Association Ltd 2,250 £349.9m
Jigsaw Homes North 1,990 £249.5m
Karbon Homes Ltd 2,533 £350.0m
Magna Housing Ltd 1,500 £250.0m
Metropolitan Housing Trust Ltd 2,500 £299.8m
Midland Heart Ltd 1,820 £225.1m
Newcastle City Council 966 £141.4m
Onward Homes Ltd 3,000 £345.1m
Orbit Group Ltd 3,335 £350.0m
Park Properties HA Ltd 1,500 £148.9m
Places For People Group Ltd 2,595 £350.0m
Platform Housing Group Ltd 2,800 £350.0m
Plymouth Community Homes 1,500 £250.0m
Sage Homes RP Ltd 2,772 £350.0m
Sanctuary Housing Association 2,000 £350.0m
Stonewater Limited 2,348 £350.0m
Thirteen Housing Group Ltd 2,750 £349.2m
Together Housing Assoc 3,200 £326.6m
Torus62 Ltd 2,865 £349.9m
Vico Homes Ltd 2,200 £250.0m
Vistry Homes Ltd 3,028 £350.0m
Vivid Housing Ltd 2,482 £349.9m
Yorkshire Housing Ltd 2,010 £230.0m
Picture: Yorkshire Housing has been named as a Homes England Strategic Partner, securing £230 million in funding through the Social and Affordable Homes Programme to deliver 2,010 affordable homes across the county.
The government’s 1.5 million homes ambition is looking increasingly difficult, but billions in affordable housing funding could still translate into significant new-build opportunities for installers.
