At the Labour Party Conference last week, the new slogan, sprinkled generously across the airwaves – a bit like glitter – was “get Britian building again”.
Some people in Wokingham Borough might wonder when exactly Sir Keir Starmer thinks we ever stopped building (but perhaps he doesn’t get out of North London much).
Certainly, over recent years, the Borough has taken its fair share of new homes. But it is fairly safe to say that under a Labour Government, Wokingham Borough would see significantly more new houses and flats than we previously have, riding roughshod over legitimate local concerns.
Labour says they will impose a target of 1.5 million new homes nationally over the first five years of a Labour Government, meaning an average of 300,000 per year. That would be more houses per year being built up and down than country than in any other year this century.
In a speech earlier this year he said: “So mark my words: we will take on planning reform. We’ll bring back local housing targets.” He went on to say, “We choose the builders, not the blockers.” Meaning he'll be backing developers, not local residents who object.
What would this all mean for Wokingham Borough? It could mean that a significant proportion of the new housing is foisted on us, and we won’t be able to object.
Sir Keir has indicated that if he becomes the next Prime Minister, there will be a relaxing of rules protecting the Green Belt.
As well as permitting building on the Green Belt they have also been talking about building on “grey belt”. The BBC reported that the grey belt might include scrubland, “unloved patches of dirt” and "disused petrol stations”. I doubt there is enough of that to fit 300,000 homes a year on. More importantly, Natural England criticised this plan, pointing out that “expanding scrub is one of the quickest ways we can make progress for nature recovery.”
The Labour Leader has also said that he wants to see house prices come down.
Some people think that if more houses are built house prices will come down. However, in Wokingham Borough, despite considerable new homes being built, we have only seen prices continue to rise.
Even with mortgage rates having reached a 15 year high this summer, the property website Rightmove says, “Overall, sold prices in Wokingham… over the last year were 1% down on the previous year and 13% up on the 2017…”
There is however one group who would benefit from Labour’s plans for more house building: developers.
Local Liberal Democrats say that they want to reduce the numbers of houses Wokingham Borough must build. But nationally their party has called for more houses to be built. As usual they tell local voters what they want to hear to gain votes, whilst coming up with national policies which are completely contradictory.
The Conservative Group on the Council has been clear we want people today to be able to enjoy the dream of home ownership as previous generations have done, and we want to see more affordable homes. But we want to see a reduction in centrally-imposed targets for the number of houses to be built in our area each year. We want sustainable development in the right areas. And we want local residents to be able to have their say and for their objections to be considered fairly.
Locally, the Liberal Democrats do not have a majority on Wokingham Borough Council and rely on support from Labour councillors. For a year and a half, since taking control of the council, Liberals and labour have not progressed the new Local Plan which would give the Borough greater protection from unsustainable development. This has allowed developers to win a number of planning appeals. At a General Election, a vote for either Labour or the Liberal Democrats risks putting Sir Keir Starmer in No 10, and seeing development on the Green Belt along with losing other protections against unsustainable development.
Whichever way you look at it, Labour and the Liberal Democrats can't be trusted to deliver the right homes, in the right numbers, in the right places.
