The government will miss its manifesto target of building an additional 300,000 homes a year by the mid 2020s and is imposing unrealistic goals on English cities, business groups and councils have warned.
To meet the pledge, the 20 largest cities would need to increase their existing home-building targets by 35%. But local authorities and planning consultants have said the requirement imposed “absurd” demands on some urban areas.
Business leaders have warned the target is undermining the government’s levelling up agenda to reduce inequality across the UK, by hurting economic growth prospects as land used for local businesses is taken for housing.
Matthew Spry, a director at planning consultancy Lichfields, said it was already clear that the target would be missed. “What’s going to be built by the mid-2020s has to have planning permission now, and doesn’t.”
Some cities, such as Manchester, have sufficient land and space to meet the targets. But others, including Bristol, Brighton and Sheffield, were failing to meet their targets even before the “uplift” was imposed.
Nicola Beech, a Labour councillor and cabinet member for planning in Bristol, said the imposition of the target had left the city in an impossible position, creating “poisonous” choices between job creation and residential building.
Under the new policy, Bristol, which had a shortfall of 12,000 homes, is required to deliver an extra 3,300 houses a year – nearly double its current level of 1,700.
