Ethan Leyden, senior account executive for DevComms in the South East, considers the way ahead for the housing crisis in the light of this month’s Labour Party conference.

At Labour’s 2025 Conference, the enormity of their 1.5 million homes target clearly loomed over the party, as housing frequently took centre stage.

Steve Reed, relatively fresh into his new role as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, promised to ‘build baby build’, as his party sought to demonstrate their determination to deliver new homes and instil confidence into developers UK-wide.

The message seemed clear – an acknowledgment that although the task ahead is daunting – Labour are up to it and optimistic they can get it done. Steve Reed will be all too aware however, that his Government will not be judged by plans or slogans, but by bricks in the ground across Britain.

Undoubtedly, there will be scepticism from developers and housing associations; some will claim they have heard it all before. There is, however, a clear momentum towards shifting the scales of the housing industry towards an overwhelmingly pro-build agenda. The question now remains, what exactly will this mean for planners, developers, and the housing sector?

New towns

Steve Reed’s headline announcement from the conference undoubtedly came in the proposed creation of 12 new towns, with a pledge to be breaking ground on the first three by the time the next election comes around.

These would be in Tempsford, Bedfordshire, Crews Hill in Enfield and Leeds South Bank. As Labour figures were all too keen to make clear, this would mark the most significant investment into new housing since Attlee’s post-war Government was tasked with rebuilding Britain.

According to Reed, each new town will have its own identity, designed by ‘world-class architects’ and centred around sustainable infrastructure and public realm. The Government hopes a focus on placemaking and community initiatives will create new towns that work for their residents, and give thousands of families across Britain the opportunity to own their own homes for the first time.

Local authorities, planners, and developers will no doubt be keeping a close eye on the practical implications of their Government’s ambitions, as the scale of their plans throws up a multitude of questions. How will land be identified and acquired? What mechanisms will streamline planning and infrastructure delivery to make all this possible? How will communities be meaningfully engaged in the process?

What is clear and notable though, is the shift in tone following the departure of Angela Rayner from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. From deregulation to decisive coordination, the Government wants to focus on unlocking land, fast-tracking viable sites and taking swift, decisive action to see their proposed large-scale developments through. This does not necessarily mean dictating development, but rather enabling it through closer collaboration with housing associations, local authorities and private developers to get schemes moving.

Social housing at the forefront

Not too far behind new towns as the key focus of Labour’s housing mission, however, was social housing. Across various fringe events with key attendees such as the Minister for Housing and Planning, Matthew Pennycook, social housing received a great deal of attention – and is getting the financial backing to match.

As set out in the Government’s £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme announced in July, the ambition is to deliver around 300,000 social and affordable homes, with at least 60 per cent of those for social rent.

At an event hosted by The New Statesman, ‘How can we deliver the social housing we need to generate economic growth and tackle the housing crisis?’, Pennycook was frank that if they want to deliver on their ambitious targets, planning reform would be necessary but not sufficient.

Pennycook outlined that the Government will be seeking to combine planning reform with financial investment, and most importantly, partnerships with housing associations and private developers. As such, Pennycook claimed that private developers will be encouraged and supported to play a crucial role in the delivery of new social homes.

This immediately, however, begs the question of viability. How can private developers be expected to get involved in delivering social housing if it is not economically viable for them? On this, Pennycook made clear that whilst the Government will still allow viability assessments where necessary, they intend to tighten the rules which he claimed often make it too easy to negotiate down the 40 per cent affordable housing quota.

Grants or subsidies could therefore be used instead to ensure private developers are able to meet affordable housing targets in their schemes, rather than reducing them.

Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, called the Government’s plans ‘transformative’, and delighted at the attention housing was getting at the Labour conference for once.

From a delivery standpoint, the Government’s plans will create both opportunity and complexity. New funding routes to support mixed-tenure schemes may well be available to developers, but local authorities and housing associations will need to find the capacity and expertise to turn policy and will into bricks in the ground.

Make no mistake, the ambition is correct. The challenge facing the Government now will be sustaining the funding necessary to see their plans through and sourcing adequate delivery capacity across the UK.

So what does this all mean?

Labour’s plans are certainly bold, and the risk of catastrophic failure is real. If the Government is to break ground on three new towns by 2029, the machinery and efficiency of supply chains, workforce capacity and government are going to need to come together in perfect harmony. Many will understandably question the viability of these plans being realised, but almost no one will take issue with the ambition.

Questions will no doubt remain across the planning sector whether they can feasibly scale up fast enough in infrastructure, funding and skills to see through Labour’s vision, and if the Government will actually be able to deliver on their side of the bargain.

Despite these questions, it is unequivocal that the sentiment across the industry feels genuinely aligned with the Government’s intentions for the first time in years. Whether ‘build baby build’ can be anything more than a slogan, however, will require collaboration, design excellence and efficient delivery – terms that many will justifiably point out haven’t necessarily been attributed to any British Government in a rather long time.

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