Stevenage: Government set to increase housebuilding target

Over the last few years, an average of only 120 homes per year have been added to Stevenage's housing supply - well below the current target of 470 per year.

But a government overhaul of the planning system is set to see a mandatory target of 498 homes per year introduced in Stevenage.

In North Hertfordshire, meanwhile, the current target is 910 per year and this would be increased to 992. Between 2020/21 and 2022/23, an average of 467 homes per year were built.

Announcing the plans to introduce mandatory targets, housing secretary Angela Rayner said that building more homes could "turbocharge economic growth".

She said Labour have "inherited the most acute housing crisis in living memory" and that there is a "moral obligation" to build more homes.

All councils will be required to update their Local Plan - the key document against which planning applications are assessed - in line with the revised housing targets. The government may intervene with any council that does not produce a fresh Plan.

Cllr Richard Henry, Labour leader of Stevenage Borough Council, said that the council is "committed to tackling homelessness and delivering more council housing for our residents".

Cllr Richard Henry (third from left) on a recent visit to the former Matalan site in Stevenage town centre. (Image: UK Government)

"Housing is a real and severe national crisis, one that affects family life and holds back our economy.

"Alongside our Local Plan, our dedicated Housing Development programme is well established and has played a key role in the continuous construction of new council homes in the area since its commencement in 2015, meaning we are in a positive position to deliver upon new housing targets.”

Ms Rayner also announced plans to make it easier for councils to build and buy more social homes, including allowing them to use receipts from right-to-buy sales. Major developments on the Green Belt will be required to make half of the new housing affordable, according to the government definition of the term.

Cllr Stephen Booth, Liberal Democrat leader of the opposition at Stevenage Borough Council, told the Comet that the new targets would be "welcome" to the 2,500 people on the council's waiting list "provided we are allowed to build enough to let or at affordable prices".

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But he raised concerns about the government's proposed removal of a requirement for developments to be "beautiful", and said: "Once again we’ll see serried ranks of all-the-same houses like those built here in the 1950s and 60s."

Cllr Booth added that Stevenage is "running out of suitable land without nibbling further into the Green Belt and our essential amenity land".

Cllr Stephen Booth raised concerns about the removal of requirements around beauty. (Image: Stevenage Borough Council)

"Our boundaries need extending to stop the relentless infilling of small patches of amenity land only fit for one or two homes."

Conservative Cllr Phil Bibby said that Labour have "form in decimating our precious Green Belt" in Stevenage, with developments such as Forster Country.

He continued: "They are also keen to build on other green spaces within the town. Whilst the administration say they are unlikely to release more Green Belt, they point to most of what remains being in control of neighbouring authorities.

Cllr Bibby said the council had form in decimating Green Belt land such as Forster Country. (Image: Stevenage Borough Council/Bellway/Canva)

"We will have to wait and see if the increased housing targets can be accommodated within ‘grey belt’, but given what we have seen, I am concerned for the future, although I appreciate the need to provide housing for our residents.

"Any new developments must be sustainable, and not to the detriment of our countryside, and necessary infrastructure needs to be funded, and provided in a timely manner."

Under the government's plans, brownfield land will be prioritised for development, but councils will also be asked to identify "grey belt" land that can be used to build homes. "Grey belt" land will be areas of the Green Belt that have previously been built on, or are deemed to be "ugly" or "low quality".

Cllr Simon Speller, the council's cabinet member for environment and performance, said: "Most of the Green Belt around Stevenage is within other local authority boundaries, and while those authorities at the time chose to release green belt, we would hope they would look at their own 'grey belt' for future release."

The government is proposing to "strengthen cross-boundary collaboration" as part of its plans.

Labour ran on a manifesto promise to build 1.5m homes over the next five years, and Ms Rayner's aim is to increase annual housebuilding nationally from the current level of around 200,000 per year to 370,000.

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage, a housing minister in the new government, told the House of Lords that "bold action" was needed to prevent the supply of homes "falling even further behind the needs of the people of this country".

"Decisions about what to build should reflect local views, but that should be about how, not whether, to deliver new homes," Ms Rayner told MPs. "We have a housing crisis and a mandate for real change, and we must all pay our part."

A consultation on the government's proposals is now open.