Can Burnham solve the housing crisis?
 

In 2016 the number of planning applications for house building stood at 483,657. Ten years later, and with the housing crisis looming larger, the number of planning applications has fallen by 150,000. Yet government after government promises to build more houses. Keir Starmer was the last to make such a promise – committing to building 1.5 million homes by the end of this Parliament. Continuing at the same rate as during his two-year tenure as PM, that target would be missed by more that 50%. Now Andy Burnham has upped the challenge, promising not just more homes, but specifically more council homes – more than at any time since WWII. Is there any way that Burnham’s won’t be just another promise broken?

Paul Cheshire spells out the tall order building more than 200,000 council houses (the number built in 1953) that will be. For comparison, the UK built 1,970 council houses last year. The cost of the land required alone for the feat is eye-watering. “Back in the peak council house building year of 1953, housing land was £5,634 a hectare. To get to modern prices of land, you take that figure and multiply it by one thousand.” But another thing getting in the way of building more houses – whether by the private sector or councils – is the current planning system. As things stand, too much veto power is given to local decision-makers who are responsive to local voters who stand to lose from more housing being built in their area. Until the planning system remains more responsive to those voters, rather than the people that would benefit from more housing, building the number of houses politicians promise will remain impossible.