Unveiling the Lyons Report, his party's blueprint for the future of the UK's housing market, Ed Miliband declared that the "comprehensive plan" will meet Labour’s commitment of building 200,000 homes a year by 2020 and set a course for doubling the number of first-time buyers over the next decade.
The report highlights a land market that it says is not working, citing insufficient land coming forward; a decline in housebuilding capacity; and communities feeling that they have no influence where new homes will go.
According to the Labour leader, they will ensure that local communities have the power to build the homes needed in the places people want to live; that councils will produce a plan for homebuilding in their area and allocate sufficient land for development to meet the needs of people in the area; and that first time buyers from the area can get priority access rights when these new homes go on sale.
Mr Miliband said:
“There has been a systematic failure to build the homes our country needs. Too much development land is held as a speculative investment when local people need homes. Too often the trickle of new developments that get completed are snapped up before people from the area can benefit, undermining support for much needed further development. And, for too many young families, the dream of home ownership is fading fast."
“We will also make sure that communities get the benefit from new home development by guaranteeing that where communities take the lead in bringing forward additional developments, a significant proportion of homes on those sites cannot be bought by anyone before first-time buyers from the area have been given the chance. This is not only a fairer system, it is also one which will encourage local communities and local authorities to support the development that our country so desperately needs.”
The report's author, Sir Michael Lyons, said:
“We face the biggest housing crisis in a generation. We simply have to do better as a nation, not only because our children and grandchildren need the homes we should be providing now, but because greater house building will make a direct contribution to national economic growth.
“My report sets out a comprehensive plan to tackle the key problems that underpin our failure to build enough homes. This will require strong leadership from central government alongside the delegation of powers and responsibility so that every community provides the homes they need. The recommendations will make more land available for new homes; unlock investment in infrastructure; and ensure that new homes are built when and where they are needed in attractive, thriving places. That will involve a more active role for local government in assembling land and in risk sharing partnerships with developers and landowners."
