If we want to build more housing, we’ll need to build a bonfire of restrictive legislation first

Of all the commitments the government made, the promise to build one and a half million homes was one that everyone, regardless of their political affiliation, could welcome.

We haven’t built enough homes for decades, the proof of which is the number of young families living in temporary accommodation. The latest estimate is that around 80,000 families are in this position, and 175,990 children live with them. These families are often made to move several times a year and are never able to call their accommodation a home. The commitment was not only right, it was urgently needed.

The previous government’s last housing minister Michael, now Lord Gove was, frankly, an out and out nimby. He no doubt thought most of his party’s members felt the same. However, all the evidence suggests that more people are worried about whether their children are ever going to find a home than whether more houses will be built in the village.

During Angela Rayner’s brief time in charge, she reversed the most egregious of Gove’s decisions, but sadly she and her successor Steve Reed haven’t come near to understanding why right now home building has virtually stopped.

Whether you are talking about apartments in London or single-family homes elsewhere in the country, the fact is that fewer homes were built in the first year of this government than in the last year under the Tories, and in 2026 best estimates are that the figure will be even lower.

The London story is frankly dreadful. The government set Sadiq Khan what they saw as an easy target of 88,000 homes a year. Last year, the figure was 5,000, just over 6% of that target. There is much confusion over consents, stats and completions, but the only figure that matters to those looking for somewhere to live is completions, and that figure is shockingly awful.

We know there are special reasons why London will always be a challenge, one of which is an administration in City Hall that puts unreasonable affordable housing demands before homes. What is tragic is that the situation nationally is not much more encouraging. According to Savills, SME housebuilders saw a 40% fall in sales between 2021 and 2025.

Putting it bluntly, we’re at risk of losing this cohort, who used to build maybe a hundred homes a year but are now building less than half that number. How can they build more when there are now so many regulations attached to the development of even the simplest single-family home, never mind any tall building that has gone in for planning for the last three or four years?

The Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 changed nothing of significance and failed to deal with the bats, jumping spiders and great crested newts that can put a project back a year or more if they’re spotted.

I could go on, but most readers will know all too well what I’m describing. This is not a political rant. If anything, more of the responsibility lies with the last government. But if Steve Reed really does wants us to “build baby, build”, he first needs to build a huge bonfire of restrictive legislation. Otherwise, the industry he supervises will frankly be ‘bust baby, bust’.