The UK’s new housing and planning minister has fought vigorous campaigns against schemes in his Reading West constituency, but is likely to be forced to follow through on pro-development pledges within the Tory manifesto.
Indian-born Alok Sharma, Conservative MP for Reading West, is the 15th housing minister to be appointed in 17 years. A relative unknown to the property industry, Sharma has previously said he opposes top-down housing targets. During the last parliament he also successfully opposed two housing developments in Reading – one on the grounds of wildlife protection and the other on grounds of lack of infrastructure and sustainability.
At a hustings in April 2010, Sharma was quoted as saying: “I think what is completely wrong about the current housing system is that we have these top-down targets being imposed on local communities. What we want to do, if we come into power, is to take those away. If local people get a chance to decide, I think you will find they will act very responsibly, they will actually act in the best interests of their community.”
Sharma has worked with local campaign groups in his constituency to fight “unsustainable” development on green spaces at places such as Pincents Hill, and successfully fought to scale-back housing on a site called Bath Road Reservoir. He has committed to campaigning against “any unsustainable development” across Reading West.
However, these tendencies are unlikely to derail Tory policy ambitions. Sharma will be expected to follow through on manifesto pledges to build 1m homes by 2020 and a further 500,000 by 2022.
What will he do in the job?
Adam Challis, head of UK residential research at JLL, said that an MP’s local track record would not necessarily affect his approach to the new role as housing minister.
“When [previous housing minister] Gavin Barwell came in, no one in the housing scene knew him, and the first thing that appeared in the press was a photo of him standing next to placards [protesting against] some small development,” Challis said. “His approach in government was very different.”
Sharma’s superior, Sajid Javid, was reappointed by Theresa May as communities secretary. In February Javid was – alongside Barwell – a joint signatory of the largely pro-development housing white paper. This was reinforced in the Conservative manifesto.
Ian Fletcher, policy director of the British Property Federation, said that, as a result of the minority government, some manifesto pledges would be dropped. This would leave more room for policies on which there is a broad consensus, such as the need for more housing. A housing bill could therefore be included in the Queen’s Speech, currently scheduled for next Monday.
As someone who represents an urban south-east constituency, Sharma will have seen at first hand the housing pressures and challenges, according to Fletcher. “It is also good he has spent time at the Treasury and at the Cabinet Office, which can be significant influences on housing policy,” he said. “He also has a finance background and will understand how to raise investment. So on the face of it, it is a good choice – and hopefully he will want to carry on the mission that Javid and Barwell had started of pragmatism, industry and delivering the White Paper proposals.”
The Home Builders Federation has demanded assurances from Sharma that the government’s Help to Buy policy, widely credited for propping up the housebuilding industry, would be extended. The policy, which provides equity loans to first-time buyers, is due to be wound up in 2021. Housebuilders need certainty about whether or not they should legislate for the scheme coming to an end, an HBF spokesman said.
What was in the housing white paper?
The Tory manifesto promised to continue with reforms that were set out in the housing white paper. Key policy changes include:
- New planning rules allowing councils to proactively plan for long-term build-to-rent homes
- Promotion of longer-term tenancies in private rented schemes
- Housebuilders forced to start construction in two years instead of three
- A new housing delivery test, which will force local authorities to grant planning permissions if they fail to reach land-release targets.
- Local councils to be allowed to increase planning fees by 20%
- Consultation launched on charging for planning appeal fees
- Smaller sites to be promoted in local plans for SME housebuilders
- Land registry use could be free, far more comprehensive and transparent
- Starter-home policy watered down
- High-density development expected where land is in low supply
What is Alok Sharma’s background?
A chartered accountant, Alok Sharma became minister for Asia and the Pacific in 2016, before moving to the Department for Communities and Local Government a year later. He was a member of the Science and Technology Select Committee in 2010-11, and the Treasury Select Committee in 2014-15
Sharma was born in 1967 to a Hindu family in Agra, India, and moved to Reading with his family at the age of five. He is the son of the veterinary surgeon and community activist Dr Prem Sharma OBE, former president of the neighbouring Reading East constituency party. He was privately educated at the Reading Blue Coat School and read applied physics with electronics at the University of Salford.
He switched from science to accountancy and worked in Germany and more recently for a Swedish bank in London. He has worked on a factory production line and as a company auditor, and has run his own business and advised European companies on doing business in India. He was chair of the Bow Group’s economic affairs committee.
He is a fellow of the Royal Society for the Advancement of the Arts, Manufacturing and Commerce.
He lives in Caversham with his wife and two young daughters. There were celebrations in his ancestral home in India when he was elected.
Political career
Sharma had one of the biggest swings in the election of 2010, winning Reading West from Labour by more than 12% after the retirement of popular Labour MP Martin Salter. In 2015 he was re-elected with a slightly increased majority of 6,650, but this dropped drastically just two years later, to 2,876.
In his maiden speech he urged support for British companies able to take advantage of opportunities presented by the emerging economies, especially India.
He was one of the first of his intake to be promoted, appointed parliamentary private secretary to financial secretary to the Treasury Mark Hoban. In 2012 he was replaced and returned to the backbenches, becoming instead a vice-chair of the Conservative Party with responsibility for ethnic minorities.
While saying the European Union was not perfect, he campaigned for the remain camp, saying the EU was better for economy, jobs and national security.
