Cracking the code on Section 106

Posted: October 17, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Affordable housing, Housebuilding, Section 106 | Leave a comment

Originally written as a column for Inside Housing.

For something so important, the Section 106 system of providing affordable homes seems to exist inside a black box. 

We know what goes in (developments all over the country, local councils trying to get the contributions they can) and we know what comes out (almost half of affordable homes delivered for year).

We also know that this is just part of a wider system for capturing land value not just for affordable homes but also community infrastructure and facilities.

But the inner workings of the system seem hidden.

This is most obviously true when it comes to the dark arts of viability assessments that allow experienced developers to run rings around under-resourced local authority planning departments.

But it can also be true in reverse, with the complexity of the system holding development back and sparking calls for reform.

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A year of progress for Labour still leaves major gaps to be filled

Posted: July 4, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Fire safety, Homelessness, Leasehold, Planning, Private renting, Social housing, Welfare reform | Leave a comment

Originally written as a column for Inside Housing.

A year into the Labour government how should we assess its record on housing?

It’s not hard to find reasons to celebrate, from the spending review announcement of £39 billion for the Affordable Homes Programme to the creation of a National Housing Bank within Homes England armed with an extra £16 billion in financial transactions capital.

Social rent is the priority after years when it was under threat of extinction and will account for 60 per cent of the renamed Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP).

Social landlords have got what they asked for on rents and the long-term plan for social and affordable housing sets out how they must improve their existing homes, professionalise their staff and give tenants more access to information. 

The prospect of new financial flexibilities for local authorities and restrictions on the Right to Buy offer council housing its best opportunity in years to escape the straitjacket imposed by central government. 

But there are still many gaps to be filled when Labour sets out its wider plans in a long-term housing strategy and publishes its homelessness strategy. 

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Promising signs on funding and new towns

Posted: February 19, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Affordable housing, New towns | Leave a comment

Originally written as a column for Inside Housing.

After a relentless week of grim international news, it’s good to have something to celebrate on the domestic and housing front. 

Until the spending review in the Spring, any assessment of the government’s overall approach to housing will have to be provisional but this week brought some hopeful signs. 

First up was the announcement of an extra £300 million for the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP), plus for more temporary housing, then confirmation that this is in addition to the £500 million announced in the Budget in October.

At the time that seemed a little underwhelming given advance speculation that an extra £1 billion might be available but it now seems that some of that was held back. 

True, the additional 7,800 affordable homes promised will only make up for a small part of the 50,000 to 70,000-home shortfall against what the 2021-26 AHP was originally expected to deliver, but that still represents a significant short-term boost for this year and lays down a marker for the future in the spending review. 

It also recalls the last couple of years of the last Labour government, when regular announcements of extra investment added up to something more significant over time.

Next up, and more for the long term, is the announcement that more than 100 sites across England have been put forward as candidates for the next generation of new towns. 

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Missions, targets and milestones

Posted: December 6, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Housebuilding, Planning, Social housing | Leave a comment

Originally written as a column for Inside Housing.

Housing looked like an afterthought when Labour first set out what would be its missions and first steps in government.

Five months on from the election, though it is still a means to the end of the second mission of ‘kickstarting economic growth’, the manifesto target of 1.5 million new homes in this parliament has moved centre stage as one of five milestones against which the progress of that government wants to be measured.

But Thursday’s big launch of the Plan for Change still begs some very big questions when it comes to housing.

For starters, it’s a funny kind of milestone that will only be visible after the end of the journey: we won’t know for certain whether 1.5 million homes have been delivered in this parliament until well after the next election. 

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The trouble with targets

Posted: September 20, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Housebuilding, Planning, Section 106, Social housing, Wales | Leave a comment

Originally written as a column for Inside Housing.

The trouble with targets

Housing targets concentrate minds in government and drive delivery but they also come with trade-offs attached.

As Labour gears up for its first party conference since gaining power, much of the attention will be on announcements that fill in the blanks in how it is going to achieve its manifesto target of 1.5 million new homes in this parliament.

Superficially unambitious – it’s no more than the 2019 Tory manifesto promise 300,000 of 300,000 new homes by the mid-2020s – it is actually a huge stretch, with ministers expecting no more than 200,000 net additional dwellings in this financial year as a starting point. 

That will leave a growing shortfall to be made up in the later years of the parliament and could require more like 400,000 new homes a year to be built by the late 2020s.

Having a target in place is important because it drives activity within government, especially when it is backed by the rise of Labour yimbyism.

But a target does not guarantee delivery in itself, even with the magic added ingredient of planning reform.

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Pulling the policy levers

Posted: August 1, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Housebuilding, New towns, Planning, Right to buy, Social housing | Leave a comment

Originally written as a column for Inside Housing

The last day of term is traditionally a time when nothing much happens and we get set for the holidays to come.

Not so much for Angela Rayner. The deputy prime minister marked the last day in parliament before the summer recess this week with a flurry of announcements, guidance and consultation. 

Most of these – planning reforms including a new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), a new towns taskforce, changes to the right to buy – were foreshadowed in the election campaign and early days of the new government. 

However, both her written statement and what she outlined to MPs including some intriguing hints of changes that go well beyond supply and planning. 

And there was also an important piece of context: Rayner said the government now expects to deliver just 200,000 new homes in England in this financial year. That is 100,000 fewer than the annual average needed to meet its target of 1.5 million and will ramp up the pressure in the later years of this parliament.

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How does the King’s Speech measure up?

Posted: July 18, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Leasehold, Legal, Planning, Private renting, Section 21, Social housing, Temporary accommodation | Leave a comment

Originally written as a column for Inside Housing.

Amid the excitement of the first Labour King’s Speech in 15 years, it may seem churlish to inject a note of scepticism. 

The excitement lies in the prospect of planning reform to deliver more homes, the potential of more devolution in England, the promise of improved rights for private renters and the hope that we could at long last see the abolition of leasehold. 

Nobody should under-estimate the potential of this programme to improve the lives of millions of private renters and leaseholders or the determination of the government to use its mandate to deliver more new homes. 

Yes, we already knew all of this from Labour’s manifesto but hearing them in the King’s words amid the pomp and ceremony of the state opening of parliament begins their transition from promises on a page to action in the real world. 

The scepticism comes from two directions. First, and most obviously, the closer we get to implementation of these reforms the more the details matter. 

The background document has some of these but more will follow once the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, English Devolution Bill, Renters’ Rights Bill and Draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill make their way through parliament over the next few months.

The second reason for scepticism is the hype that comes with it. ‘Take this paragraph from the prime minster’s introduction to the King’s Speech: ‘Too many people currently live with the threat of insecurity and injustice, and so we will make sure everyone can grow up in the secure housing they deserve. We will introduce tough new protections for renters, end no fault evictions and raise standards to make sure homes are safe for people to live in.’

The second sentence describes what the government will do for private renters. These are good but they do not come close to meeting the aspiration in the first.

A dose of high-flown rhetoric is perfectly understandable but Keir Starmer also made a point of stressing ‘patient work and serious solutions, rather than the temptation of the easy answer’.

So how does the King’s Speech measure up to that?

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Who’s in and who’s out in the new parliament?

Posted: July 8, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Housebuilding, Planning | Tags: | Leave a comment

Originally written as a column for Inside Housing.

It’s all change for housing at Westminster after a stunning election victory for Labour. More than half of the MPs who will be sworn in this week are new to the Commons while decades of experience on the green benches were swept away in the Conservatives’ worst defeat of the modern era. 

Just about the only continuity so far came with confirmation that Angela Rayner will step across from her shadow role to become the new deputy prime minister and secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities and minister of state while former shadow housing minister Matthew Pennycook will be one of her ministers of state.

That promises well with a busy agenda to come. Despite the implication that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) will keep the title it was given under Boris Johnson, there is speculation that a new name is imminent. 

James Riding has already introduced many of the new MPs on the Labour side, while the Labour Housing Group focussed on eight of them on Red Brick ahead of the election, but it’s worth highlighting some of the results that have extra resonance:

Andrew Lewin (Welwyn Hatfield): There are two big reasons to start here. First, because Lewin worked for Clarion for seven years, most recently as director of communications, second because of who he beat. Grant Shapps was the first and longest-serving housing minister since 2010 and associated with many of the most contentious changes under the coalition. He was the minister responsible for ending top-down housebuilding targets and the creation of the New Homes Bonus and was also a supporter of ending lifetime tenancies and defender of what he called the removal of the spare room subsidy.

Dan Tomlinson (Chipping Barnet): Another double reason for celebration. First, the defeated Tory incumbent was Theresa Villiers, one of the leaders of the backbench rebellion that led to the Conservative retreat on housebuilding and planning that will now be reversed under Labour. Second, Tomlinson is an economist who has worked at the Treasury and most recently the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, so should be well placed to advocate for anti-poverty and pro-housing policies. He grew up on free school meals and was homeless for a time as a child. 

Sarah Sackman (Finchley and Golders Green): Taking Margaret Thatcher’s old seat of Finchley and Golders Green was a symbolic victory for Labour and winning in a constituency with a large Jewish population is seen as a vindication of Keir Starmer’s firm line on anti-semitism. A barrister specialising in planning and environmental law, expertise that could be very useful for this government, Sackman has acted for local authorities and charities such as Shelter. She also acted for residents in a case that saw a High Court judge quash planning permission for Curo no demolish and rebuild large parts of the Foxhill Estate in Bath.

Danny Beales, Uxbridge and South Ruislip: Taking Boris Johnson’s old seat after losing in the by-election last year was another symbolic result for Labour. Beales experienced homelessness, temporary accommodation and life in bed and breakfast as a child and was previously cabinet member for new homes, jobs and communities at Camden Council.

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Housing’s brief appearance in the election spotlight

Posted: June 20, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Home ownership, Housebuilding, New towns, Planning, Private renting, Right to buy | Leave a comment

Originally written as a column for Inside Housing.

The focus of the election finally turned to housing today (Thursday) but blink and you may have missed it.

The issue described as ‘the dog that hasn’t barked’ by Nick Ferrari on LBC was briefly across the airwaves with housing secretary Michael Gove leading for the Conservatives and shadow housing minister Matthew Pennycook representing Labour in the wake of plans for renter reform launched overnight.

However, an anonymous quote in Politico Playbook did cause some howling, with a Labour official supposedly saying that ‘I don’t care if we flatten the whole green belt, we just need more houses in this country’.

Rishi Sunak took time off from preparing for tonight’s Question Time to tweet that it was ‘good to finally get Labour’s real views on Britain’s green belt’ while Keir Starmer flatly denied the whole thing on a visit to a housing development on the edge of York. ‘No, that wasn’t Labour party officials,’ he said. ‘That wasn’t Labour party policy.’

So what did we learn from election housing day? I dipped into the morning media round in a bid to find out.

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Labour’s cautious manifesto offers hints of real ‘change’

Posted: June 13, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Affordable housing, Fire safety, Housebuilding, Leasehold, Planning, Private renting | Leave a comment

Originally written as a column for Inside Housing.

Given a backdrop of grim economic times and successive election defeats, this was always going to be a cautious Labour manifesto.

So the good news is that housing features much more prominently than it did in the plans that the party has laid out in the last few months. It had only a walk on part in Labour’s  five missions, six first steps and 10 ‘policies to change Britain’ –

The tone was set by one of the four speakers who introduced Keir Starmer. Daniel rents a one-bedroom flat in east London with his partner and two children and said he was backing Labour because of its plans to build more homes and support first-time buyers.

The manifesto itself contains few new policies and no new money but there are some interesting hints about what Labour might do in office.

The promise of 1.5 million new homes in the next parliament forms a key part of the section on kickstarting economic growth, with the party arguing that: ‘Britain is hampered by a planning regime that means we struggle to build either the infrastructure or housing the country needs.

And Labour directly challenges the Conservatives by arguing that ‘the dream of homeownership is now out of reach for too many young people’.

However, the manifesto does not mention the target of 70 per cent home ownership that Starmer set in his party conference speech only 18 months ago.  

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