Labour criticised over omission of 40% affordable housing target from manifesto

Labour has been criticised by a thinktank after the party’s 40% affordable housing target for new towns was not included in its manifesto.

Angela Rayner, deputy Labour leader, last month announced under its policy developments must meet a ‘new towns code’ which will include a target to ensure 40% of homes are for affordable tenures.

However, the party’s manifesto published last week made no mention of the 40% target.

Instead, it contained an overall pledge to “deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation”.

Adam Peggs, senior press officer, at the thinktank Common Wealth, told the I newspaper, that the omission of the target was a cause for “significant concern”.

He said: “For Labour’s new towns plan to be a success, high levels of genuinely affordable housing are a necessity.”

However sources close to the Labour party said the party’s new towns policy remains in place as originally announced and that it will “set a gold standard target of 40% affordable and social housing”.

The Labour party’s manifesto also outlined a pledge to build 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament, which it said it would achieve by re-instating mandatory housing targets, strengthening presumptions in favour of sustainable development and funding additional planning officers, paid for by increasing the rate of the stamp duty surcharge paid by non-UK residents.

The party also said it will require all combined and mayoral authorities to strategically plan for housing growth in their areas, and combined authorities will be “given new planning powers along with new freedoms and flexibilities to make better use of grant funding.”

The focus on strategic planning echoes the recommendations of a report by the Building the Future Commission, set up by Housing Today and Building magazine, last year.

>> See also: Sector reacts to Conservative Party’s ‘unbalanced’ and ‘frustrating’ manifesto

>> See also: Prominent architects warn Labour not to ‘fall for’ traditional housing design trend

The research, titled Report into the English Planning System, called for a reinstating of a strategic planning tier to take decisions on key strategic (or larger than local) planning issues such as housing numbers and green belt. It said this tier should be “based on existing sub-regional institutions such as metro mayor-led combined authorities, unitary or county authorities, or combinations of them”

A spokesperson for the Labour party said: “A Labour government will reform our planning laws and kickstart economic growth by building 1.5 million homes in five years.”