A New Hand on the Tiller: What the Latest Government Reshuffle Means for UK Housing

Angela Rayner has gone. Is her housing brief leaving with her?

In the often-turbulent world of Westminster, the revolving door of ministerial appointments is a familiar sight. This past week, that door has spun once more for the housing sector, with a significant reshuffle at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). As the dust settles, the key question for developers, planners, and investors is clear: does this signal a genuine change in direction, or simply a change of face?

The departure of any minister – more so one also with Deputy Prime Minister responsibilities too – brings their specific projects and policy leanings into question, while the arrival of a new one prompts an intense period of analysis. The industry will be closely examining the new Secretary of State’s voting record, past speeches, and previous roles to get a measure of their priorities. Will they champion radical planning reform, or favour a more cautious, localised approach? Will the focus be on hitting ambitious national housebuilding targets, or on empowering local authorities to define their own needs?

For those of us on the ground, this change at the top introduces a period of both uncertainty and potential opportunity. Key challenges for the new leadership team remain stubbornly in place:

Planning Reform: The long-debated updates to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) remain a critical issue. The new Secretary of State inherits a system that many argue is too slow, too complex, and a significant barrier to development. A clear and decisive stance on planning will be one of the first and most important signals of their intent.
Housing Targets: The government’s manifesto commitment to building 300,000 new homes a year remains the benchmark. The new minister will face immediate pressure to demonstrate a credible plan for reaching this target, tackling everything from land availability and SME housebuilder support to skills shortages in the construction sector.
Environmental Regulations: Navigating the complexities of nutrient neutrality and biodiversity net gain continues to be a major hurdle for developers, often stalling much-needed projects. The industry will be looking to the new leadership for pragmatic solutions that balance environmental protection with the urgent need for new homes.
Affordability and Social Housing: Beyond sheer numbers, the crisis of affordability and the chronic undersupply of social and council housing require urgent and sustained attention. A policy platform that only focuses on private market delivery will fail to address the full scope of the UK’s housing challenges.

What to Watch For

In the coming weeks, we will be looking for key indicators of the new minister’s approach. Their first major speech, their responses during departmental questions in the Commons, and any initial statements on planning appeals will be scrutinised for shifts in tone and policy. Will the rhetoric focus on “beauty” and “gentle density,” or will it pivot to a more aggressive pro-development language of “growth” and “delivery”?

Ultimately, a change in personnel doesn’t alter the fundamental equation: the UK needs more homes, of all types and tenures, in the right places. While the industry is adaptable, what it craves most is certainty and a long-term strategic vision for housing and planning. Whether this reshuffle marks the beginning of a bold new chapter or is merely a footnote in the ongoing saga remains to be seen.

We will be monitoring these developments closely, providing analysis on what these changes mean for our clients and the wider property landscape.

Sheffield to deliver more new homes

Sheffield like many other major cities has a growing population and a growing demand for new homes.

Around 2000 homes are needed in the city per year over the next 5 years for the young, older people, families and those who are vulnerable. These homes need to be either homes for sale or to rent.

The new homes delivery plan, launched this week, aims to meet these needs which will mean that people in Sheffield will live in good quality, affordable, safe and secure homes.

The plan will:

Maintain the current level of homes being built and improve the range on offer.
See the building of these 2,000 new homes, which will include over 725 new affordable homes per year for the next 5 years to meet housing need.
See the council working with the public and private sector to deliver the much needed homes.
Support the council’s intention to prioritise brownfield land to bring back into use land that has not been used for many years.
Bring existing empty housing back into use.

Building more homes will mean that it will be easier to free up and make the best use of the city’s existing stock. Many people are struggling to afford to live in a home that they can afford across all types and tenures of housing. The council will work with the private and public sector to address the significant shortfall in affordable homes for rent and the under-occupancy in many areas.

The plan can be downloaded from the SCC website.

National Housing Summit 2018: Opening speech from Prime Minster Theresa May

The Prime Minister Theresa May has announced £2bn of new funding for housing associations to build homes. In an address to the National Housing Summit on 19 September 2018, she put social housing at the heart of the nation’s priorities – and housing associations at the heart of delivering them.

The funding will be available as far ahead as 2028/29, which the Prime Minister said would give housing associations the long-term certainty they need to plan ahead and secure more, and larger, sites for development.

National Housing Federation Chief Executive David Orr welcomed the £2bn of new funding, adding that “the really big news here is the Prime Minister’s long-term commitment to funding new affordable homes.”

Land – the mother of all monopolies on BBC Radio 4

If you’ve ever wondered about the basics of the land business this great episode of the BBC’s The Bottom Line with Evan Davis will give you an excellent introduction. It outlines the basic processes of the planning system and how the right planning consent can add significant value to land without laying a single brick.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08vzq84

Sheffield’s Chief Executive on the housing crisis

Sheffield’s Chief Executive, John Mothersole gives an excellent and realistic outline of the challenges facing cities as the supply of housing land shrinks, forcing down new-build completions and pushing up prices for buyers and tenants alike.

This will be a difficult issue to move forward with the inherent conflict between the need to build and the natural tendency we all have towards NIMBYism on our doorstep. Politics (or at least the need for politicians to keep voters voting for them) constantly gets in the way and while we all understand that our young people are finding it harder than ever to set up home, we don’t like the impact that means to our neighbourhood if it’s one that will see new homes.

Planning policy needs reform, but in the meantime we’ll need a shift towards reordering sectors of cities so that zones reflect the local needs today rather than the historic grain. We tend to stay within our comfort zones, only thinking of what an area is or has been, whereas we have got to remove the familiarity from the decision making process to see what somewhere can be soon.

That’s not a clear nod towards for brownfield development, since without the extensive and unpopular use of compulsory purchase powers the difficulties of site assembly will prolong matters by decades. Whilst initially attractive as a soundbite, brownfield development brings lots of problems, both technical and social, and most brownfield sites have a direct impact on more people than even a rural development does.

Alternatively, selective greenfield consents which complement adjacent brownfield sites can bring together usefully sized development plots that can deliver new homes over the next two to five years. These sites exist both on the edges of town and in the very heart of the urban grain, but it takes market expertise and a canny eye to see the potential that extends beyond an easily identifiable site. Council planners don’t tend to be very good at this due to the many constraints that they have to work under, but there are others out there who are expert at knitting together these schemes and they need an open mind and support from Town Halls.

With shortfall of hundreds of thousands of homes per year being built we really can’t afford to wait until community sensibility catches up. It’s impossible to pickle a community in a moment in time (and it’s a fallacy to imagine that even the prettiest village has existed forever) so the load needs to be shared. In doing so, it’s vital that people are involved and engaged in the process so that they clearly understand the issues and can be a part of the decision making process.

Multi-agency approach is vital so long as the overseers (especially planning committees) take on an enabling function rather than their traditional and control blocking functions. If we can achieve that we can provide decent and affordable homes for everyone.