Rachel Reeves defends 1.5m Labour homes target and says Sunderland project 'shows it can be done'

Rachel Reeves has defended Labour’s plans to build 1.5 million new homes – and says a major North East regeneration scheme “shows it can be done”.

The Chancellor was in Sunderland on Thursday, as the Government confirmed an overhaul of the planning system that will set mandatory higher housing targets for councils across the country. Local authorities will be told that they must deliver a total of 370,000 new houses in England every year.

The North East’s overall housing target has now jumped from 6,123 under the Conservatives to 10,976, though that has now been revised down from a 12,182 figure included in Labour’s original proposals earlier this year. Critics have claimed that the new targets are undeliverable, while the Tories accused the Government of waging a “war on rural England”.

But, speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) at Sunderland’s City Hall, Ms Reeves insisted there was “no point in setting a target that is easy to reach”. She praised the Riverside Sunderland project, which the Government recently committed nearly £30 million towards, as a flagship example of the regeneration ministers want – with the scheme promising around 1,000 new homes and up to 10,000 new jobs, as well as a new footbridge across the Wear.

The Chancellor said: “The great thing about Riverside is that it shows it can be done. 1,000 new homes, close to the city centre, infrastructure, the sort of homes people want to live in. We have set out our commitment today to build 1.5 million new homes in the course of this Parliament – that is a really ambitious target, but what Sunderland are doing here with Riverside shows it can be done.

“That is exactly the sort of scheme we want to see, not just in Sunderland but right across the North East and across the country.”

Research published by the Centre for Cities thinktank last week suggested that, even if housebuilding were to return to peak levels, the Government will fall short of its 1.5 million target by at least 388,000 homes come 2029. Every council in the North East and Tees Valley areas will see their housing target increased, except for Newcastle.

How housebuilding targets in the North East are changing

Under the Labour government's new housebuilding targets, this is how many homes each local authority in the North East will be expected to deliver each year:

Northumberland: Current target - 549. Target under original Labour plan - 1,769. New target - 1,649.

Newcastle: Current target - 1,417. Target under original Labour plan - 1,345. New target - 1,206.

Gateshead: Current target - 417. Target under original Labour plan - 909. New target - 811.

North Tyneside: Current target - 745. Target under original Labour plan - 1,075. New target - 989.

South Tyneside: Current target - 306. Target under original Labour plan - 706. New target - 623.

Sunderland: Current target - 512. Target under original Labour plan - 1,208. New target - 1,059.

Durham: Current target - 1,129. Target under original Labour plan - 2,210. New target - 2,011.

Darlington: Current target - 152. Target under original Labour plan - 500. New target - 440.

Middlesbrough: Current target - 251. Target under original Labour plan - 589. New target - 522.

Redcar and Cleveland: Current target - 45. Target under original Labour plan - 642. New target - 559.

Stockton-on-Tees: Current target - 444. Target under original Labour plan - 861. New target - 746.

Hartlepool: Current target - 157. Target under original Labour plan - 388. New target - 361.

The reforms announced by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government include ‘grey belt’ land being defined in national planning policy for the first time and being prioritised for development, councils being required to review their greenbelt boundaries to meet the building targets, and 300 extra planners being dispatched to town halls to speed up decisions.

Asked if the Government would support councils to build more social housing to help meet the new targets, with the number of households on our region’s waiting lists having spiralled from 50,453 in 2022 to 75,985 in 2023, the Chancellor replied: “There is no point in setting a target that is easy to reach. This is about stretching all parts of Government and the housebuilding sector to build more quality homes faster and make sure there is a mix of affordable and social homes as well.

“Today there are a couple of things we have done. First of all, a presumption where it is a brownfield site that building can go ahead. Second, looking at the grey belt and designating that for planning. And also the commitment we put in our manifesto and that we are delivering on now, 300 additional planners at local government level because of the the things that stops planning from happening is that there are not the planners in the local councils to look at the applications so they get stuck in a bureaucracy and don’t get built.”

Sunderland City Council leader Michael Mordey called the Riverside scheme “the most ambitious city centre regeneration project in the country”. The city’s annual housing target will rise from 512 to 1,059 under Labour’s reforms.

Coun Mordey added: “The targets are ambitious but in Sunderland we have always been clear and we have always delivered above our targets. We see housing growth in the city as a positive thing – it creates new communities, creates more revenue in terms of council tax that helps us deliver support. We would welcome any support from the Government to help us meet those targets but I am clear as a leader in Sunderland that we want to partner with the Government. It is right that they have ambitious targets and we want to help them deliver them because it will help create better communities for our residents.”

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