The newly elected UK Labour Government has sprung out of the blocks on housing and planning reform, with Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner releasing a draft policy to deliver 1.5 million new homes over the next 5 years.

Unlike political leaders around Australia, who talk the talk on housing supply, establish targets, fund some social and affordable housing, then move on; the new Starmer Government in Britain is making real changes that will deliver housing supply and improve affordability.

This fresh approach comes as 54 UK Labour MPs, calling themselves the “Labour Growth Group”, wrote to the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, demanding that he stare down UK NIMBYs and deliver “revolutionary” reforms to the Planning Act.

Revolutionary Reforms – that’s how you deal with a crisis.

While we see ABS data showing a dismal decline in new dwelling approvals and commencements, month after month, quarter after quarter, UK Labour appears to appreciate that the victims of shortages in housing supply are those from low social economic backgrounds.   Those without a “bank of mum and dad” to help.  Those who suffer from mental illness or a disability.  Those without a job. The many, many working poor who are desperately struggling with rising rents. Those in regional communities where housing shortages are chronic and are holding back the growth of the regions.

So poor has the national response been that the Albanese Government has had to bring in a new Housing Minister (Hon Clare O’Neil) to improve both the outcomes and their communication on this massive policy area.

It’s time that Anthony Albanese and all the State Premiers took a leaf from the UK government and explicitly recognised that housing supply is desperately needed to solve the problem and this requires bold reform.

The Starmer Government is showing the sort of urgency that is needed when it comes to a housing supply crisis. The plan, released after only 4 weeks in power, is a case study on how strong leadership is executed.

The UK plan requires local authorities (called Boroughs or Councils) to clear the way for more homes or Government could step in. Where councils fail to do this, the private sector can present their own proposals for development on what they believe is a grey belt area (that is land set aside as green belt but deemed not to be contributing to open space or the environment). Green belt land is not insignificant in the UK, with the green belt representing almost 17,000 square kilometres – some 12.4% of England.

In Australia, that would be like allowing developers to apply for land to be rezoned if Councils are not meeting their housing supply targets, with a predisposition in favour of the re-zoning in such cases.

Further, the proposal to remove an entire paragraph of the current UK Plan when it comes to “character and density” is of particular interest. The idea of “protecting the local character” of suburbs and communities while there is a crisis in housing supply and housing affordability is selfish, myopic and completely unjustifiable.  But this outrageous philosophy has crept into the core of planning circles around the country. Not under UK Labour it would appear.

Preserving the character of suburbs is a vague catchphrase used by NIMBYs to stop development. The new UK government has called it out.

This change alone would send the entire planning sector into apoplexy, and is the basis for the opposition from many Sydney-based councils to the very modest changes being proposed through the Transport Oriented Development planning reforms.

The entire focus of this new UK policy platform shifts the emphasis away from a system of marking an application against a set of rules, towards a presumption in support of both housing supply and land supply.

This is a complete reversal from the approach taken by Australian planners, who typically see the entire assessment process as an opportunity to identify a problem, then punish the applicant.  Planners need to play a pro-active role in supporting housing supply, and part of this is ensuring that developments are feasible.

The clear direction to assessors and decision makers in the UK is to approve applications to develop housing without delay. If that means changing the rules to make this happen, that is what is being mandated.

The latest ABS data on housing approvals, new dwelling commencements and dwelling completions shows just how desperate the situation is in Australia.  While the National Housing Accord targets only began in July 1 this year, the graph show that the number of completed dwellings in a 12 months period has not come close to meeting the 240,000 pa needed to achieve the 1.2 million new homes benchmarked by the Accord.

The Starmer Government is showing the intent and urgency befitting of a response to a crisis. It is certainly showing up the laggards here in Australia.

To read more on the UK Governments draft National Planning Policy Framework, CLICK HERE

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