Dropping mandatory housing targets will hurt

Villagers in Tudeley, Kent, a community of 950 homes, were appalled when they were told of plans to construct 6,500 homes in their immediate area,  describing it as an existential threat.

Tudeley was not alone. Another seven large sites were planned for Kent, most on green belt land, one in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The local authority explained that their hand was forced by their share of the government's mandatory target of 300,000 new homes per year.

There is little that provokes rural voters more than building on green belt land so, under pressure from their own backbenchers, the government has now abandoned mandatory housebuilding targets, preferring now to use the term 'advisory'. Within days, nine local authorities announced their intentions to 'revise' their housing policy and others have followed since.

In its 2015 manifesto, the Conservative party committed to a target of 300,000 new homes per year. This has never been met. The current Minister responsible. Michael Gove, has in the past described the target as unrealistic. The National Housing Federation, quoting research by Heriot-Watt University, recommends that the minimum target should be revised to 340,000.

However, the Centre for Policy Studies believes that mandatory targeting has had a positive effect. They suggest that the rise in house completions from 100,000 in 2012 to 200,000 last year was in large part due to mandatory targets.

There are certainly other impediments to housebuilding, but CPS believe that the easing of targets will result in 30% to 40% fewer being built. The National Housing Federation puts the figure at 100,000 a year.

The end result will be a growing imbalance between supply and demand, putting yet more pressure on both house prices and rental costs. These pressures will be most keenly felt in areas where current affordability is greatest - the whole of the UK beyond Southern England.