PM to set out plans to restore dream of home ownership
Theresa May will today warn developers who are too slow to build houses that their past record could count against them when they bid for new planning permissions.
The Prime Minister will also highlight the “perverse incentive” in the bonus structure of some house builders which does not encourage them to build homes that are affordable.
In a speech in London, the PM will say the Government is “rewriting the rules on planning” to help developers and local authorities build more properties – restoring the dream of home ownership.
The new planning rules will make the system fairer and more effective by streamlining the process, cutting red tape and ending barriers to building.
While progress has been made in building more homes – over 217,000 new homes were built last year – the PM will say “for decades this country has failed to build enough of the right homes in the right places”.
Speaking at a national planning conference in London, the Prime Minister is expected to say that we “cannot bring about the kind of society I want to see, unless we tackle one of the biggest barriers to social mobility we face today: the national housing crisis.”
She will say “in much of the country, housing is so unaffordable that millions of people who would reasonably expect to buy their own home are unable to do so” and the “failure to match demand with supply really began to push prices upwards”, and “higher prices brought with them higher rents”.
“The result is a vicious circle from which most people can only escape with help from the Bank of Mum and Dad. If you’re not lucky enough to have such support, the door to home ownership is all too often locked and barred.”
She will go on to say: ‘I still vividly remember the first home I shared with my husband, Philip. Not only our pictures on the walls and our books on the shelves, but the security that came from knowing we couldn’t be asked to move on at short notice.’
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