Labour announces New Homes Corporations to boost development
Author: Carl Brown, Inside Housing |
Ed Miliband has announced plans for new council-led corporations to boost housebuilding.
The Labour leader, speaking at the beginning of the party’s annual conference in Manchester, announced under a Labour government councils would set up New Homes Corporations as part of plans to increase housebuilding to 200,000 homes a year by 2020.
The corporations would be set up local authorities in areas prioritised for development. They would work with private companies and housing associations and receive government funding. They would commission developers to build out sites ‘at pace’, spokesperson said. Labour claims that the NHCs ‘will drive competition and diversity among house builders by seeking new private partners for investment rather than relying simply on the existing large firms.’
The party believes the corporations would help prevent landbanking by giving certainty to developers that land will be built out. It also said that the corporations will enable sites to be built across local authority boundaries more easily.
Mr Miliband said: ‘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.’
A recommendation to set up NHCs came from an independent commission led by Sir Michael Lyons. The commission will publish its review later in the year.
Labour has already announced a ‘use it or lose it’ approach to tackle developers who landbank, a Help to Build scheme to guarantee loans for small housebuilders, a new generation of garden cities and a ‘right to grow’ for councils wanting to expand into neighbouring local authority areas.
Inside Housing revealed a year ago that Labour was looking at local housing companies as part of its plans to tackle the housing crisis.