We Are Taking On Nimbyism, Says Housing Minister

4 min read33 min

The government aims to add 1.5m new homes by the end of this Parliament, with Pennycook insisting that, despite a slow start, major changes to the planning system will lead to a ramping up of developments.

Speaking to host Alain Tolhurst about the new towns announcement, he said: “We know we’ve got an acute and entrenched housing crisis. We also know that lots of our towns or cities are constrained.”

Labour first announced plans to build “the next generation of new towns” in the run-up to being elected at its 2023 party conference. After entering office, it asked a task force to recommend a list of locations where new towns should be built. This week, the government whittled down that list of 12 places to seven.

They are Tempsford in Bedfordshire, Leeds South Bank in West Yorkshire, Crews Hill and Chase Park in north London, Manchester Victoria North, Thamesmead in south London, Brabazon and West Innovation Arc in Gloucestershire, and a site in Milton Keynes.

The government says these new towns will be designed for modern living, close to train stations and easy to drive around, with green spaces and vibrant high streets.

Speaking to PoliticsHome, Pennycook, who is the Labour MP for Greenwich and Woolwich, said many communities are “unable to realise their full economic potential” at the moment, arguing that the programme, which aims to get several schemes started ahead of the next election, will deliver a financial benefit, and a sense of place, as well as thousands of new houses.

Previous administrations have been stymied by groups campaigning against building, commonly known as nimbys, but Pennycook said that “we are taking it on” through “the full use of our intervention powers” in the government’s recently passed planning legislation.

“For example, when it comes to local plans, we’ve taken new powers to be able to call in applications where local authorities are minded to refuse them, and we want to take another look,” he said. 

“There are powers that central government can use when it comes to the new towns. We’ve been really clear that in the final analysis, we’ll make decisions in the national interest. 

“We want to bring communities along with us where possible. In the cases of the seven sites we’re proposing, and many others across the country, it wasn’t the case that communities were resisting. We had lots of appetite for new towns, places coming to us, not least in the call for evidence in the new towns task force’s own process, saying, ‘please consider us’.”

The minister acknowledged that there is a “small cohort of people” in the country who want “no kind of development anywhere near them of any kind”, but said there is a “much larger group that wants good development”.

“They don’t want bad development that’s not well planned, that doesn’t have that infrastructure, whether it’s GP practices, or new schools, all of that stuff that sometimes in the planning process can be an afterthought or delivered right at the end once the homes are in.

“We have a chance here to show that we can do really good development in a different way and ensure these are exemplary communities, and I think therefore we’ll reduce, not eliminate, but reduce, some of the opposition there.”

Later in the episode, a panel discusses a whole host of issues around these proposed settlements, featuring the Labour MP Sean Woodcock, who sits on the Commons housing select committee, alongside Vicky Spratt, housing and society correspondent at The i newspaper.

Joining them are Professor Susan Parham, director of the University of Hertfordshire Urbanism Unit, and Rico Wojtulewicz, head of policy and market insight at the National Federation of Builders.

The Rundown is presented by Alain Tolhurst, and is produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

• Click here to listen to the latest episode of The Rundown, or search for ‘PoliticsHome’ wherever you get your podcasts.