Sadiq can’t build any houses

Another interesting CAPX piece, this one on being a short article on London housing by Ben Hopkinson. I know almost nothing about London housing so I've nothing to add, apart from mentioning that we see lots of house building in our part of Derbyshire. 


Sadiq can’t build any houses

• Housebuilding in London is falling to levels not seen since the Second World War
• Despite ‘planning reform’ being said 520 times in Parliament, Labour's reforms haven't led to more housing
• It's time to ignore the overblown concerns of environmental charities and start building some houses

There are few things that are consistent in housing policy. The Housing Secretary has changed 10 times in the past decade. We’ve seen multiple National Planning Policy Frameworks in the past few years. Since the Housing, Town Planning, etc. Act 1909 first introduced town planning to the statute books, almost every single Parliament has passed a significant act changing how the planning system works.

Yet one thing that has remained consistent is that London has always built more than 10,000 homes each year since the Second World War. However, that too is about to change. London started just 4,170 homes in the past financial year and the consultancy Molior projects that only 4,550 homes will be completed in both 2027 and 2028.

Failing to build even 10,000 homes in a year for the first time since 1946 is a disaster. The worst thing is that 10,000 homes is such a low bar, that failing to clear it is humiliating. London housing target is 88,000 homes a year and we’re on track to build just 5% of that.