My Lords, I point to my residential and commercial interests as set out in the register. The Government are committed to supporting the supply of new homes; we delivered around 244,000 last year, the highest number in more than 30 years. We are bringing forward an ambitious nearly £20 billion investment that will include over £12 billion for affordable housing over five years and more than £7 billion to both unlock new land through the provision of infra- structure and to diversify the market through our national homebuilding fund. Alongside our reforms to the planning system, this will deliver the new homes the country needs.
While I welcome what has been done, does the Minister agree that we need something on a much larger scale—a Beveridge-scale programme for new affordable housing? That would provide the jobs needed for those who have possibly lost their jobs because of the pandemic. I would also suggest that there should be a Minister at Cabinet level with just one job—a Minister for housing. We should also co-operate with the Ministers for housing in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff. I hope that he will agree with that and help to put it into operation.
My Lords, I would point out that housing is a devolved matter and I am not looking to tie the hands of the Prime Minister in how he prioritises this. I would also point out that we need to be very clear about the levers that the Government have to deliver new housing. The most important of those is the investment in infrastructure and the very substantial £12 billion commitment to affordable homes.
The Archbishop of Canterbury (V)
My Lords, I declare non-financial interests in various Church lands through numerous charities of which I am a member. The Church will be publishing a housing, church and communities report in February. Can the Minister tell us what criteria Her Majesty’s Government use to define affordable housing? Is it genuinely affordable in the sense that most people would use the word?
The definition of “affordable” that we use is taxpayer-subsidised housing. Of course, that is council housing as well as housing association and social housing but, importantly, it is housing that takes you on a pathway to home ownership—so it is immediate housing that is also discounted by the taxpayer.
My Lords, home ownership is a huge contributor to a prosperous and contented society, and I am glad to see the Minister’s focus on this. What is the gross number of new homes that were built last year? I am not sure about the basis for the figure of 244,000 that he mentioned. How many were in existing buildings such as pubs, offices or shops?
My Lords, the gross figure for additional dwellings was 252,790. That figure was obtained by adding 243,770 net additional dwellings to 9,000 demolitions. Some 26,930 gains were made through change of use.
I congratulate the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of Canterbury on his appointment of a Church of England bishop for housing; that is a most helpful move. Does the Minister agree that now is the time to accept the excellent recommendations made by Sir Oliver Letwin to get more homes built by ending our dependence on the oligopoly of major housebuilders who corner the land market and build out at a speed that suits themselves? Instead, we should capture the land value through local authorities and thus ensure the building simultaneously of a variety of new homes, including social housing and retirement housing and so on, for every major site.
My Lords, there is a great deal of sense in that question. I would point out that the proposals to revise the National Planning Policy Framework make it clear that sites for substantial development should seek to include a variety of development types from different builders.
My Lords, many charitable housing providers such as almshouses—for which I am an ambassador—are very small and are not included with regulated social housing providers, so will the Government review Section 106 of the planning guidance to extend its benefits and allow almshouses and other charitable providers to extend their housing provision?
My Lords, I am sure that the Minister is aware of many local authorities such as Luton—my home town—which do not have much building land within their own boundaries; their housing waiting lists continue to run into thousands. In order to meet local needs, can he tell us how the Government plan to help such local authorities acquire land from neighbouring councils to build much-needed affordable social housing?
My Lords, I have pointed to a substantial amount of money—£12 billion—of which £11.2 billion is for the affordable homes programme. In addition, we have announced a new, £7.1 billion fund, which is designed to help precisely with land acquisition and to deal with the requisite infrastructure to enable the housing that the noble Lord describes.
My Lords, small and medium housebuilders who build most of the existing housing stock have practically ceased to exist in the last few decades, in part because of the cost, time and risk involved in obtaining planning permission. Does my noble friend agree that there is a case for exempting small builders developing small sites from the need for planning permission, subject only to a pre-published design code?
My Lords, my noble friend is right that we are seeing the level of planning regulation deter small builders. It is important that, as part of our reform of the planning system, the Government take that into account and find ways to, let us say, level up the field to let the small players participate in the market and therefore deliver on the small sites the new homes that this country needs.