Call for major change in approach to housebuilding

The boss of Yorkshire’s biggest housing association has called on the government to change its approach to investment in housebuilding as it pushes to hit its target for new homes.

Nick Atkin, chief executive of Yorkshire Housing, responsible for about 20,000 homes, said such investment should be reclassified so it was treated as major infrastructure spending.

It comes as research by BBC Yorkshire has found that more than 3,000 extra homes a year would need to be built in York and North Yorkshire for the government to meet its target of 1.5 million by 2029.

Mr Atkin said the government's housing plan needed to be matched by a long-term "funding stream" to support its delivery.

The government aims to hit its housebuilding target in the next five years, helped by planning reforms, the release of green belt land and the reintroduction of mandatory housing targets for local authorities.

It has said it had a new approach to assessing housing needs, which would support its growth ambitions and its commitment to build so many new homes.

Ahead of this week's Budget, Mr Atkin said that Yorkshire Housing welcomed the government's "ambition" to construct as many homes as possible.

However, he said that would mean new builds would have to rise to numbers not seen since the end of World War Two and that would mean a different approach to investment by government.

Mr Atkin said: "We are calling for that funding to be over a 10-year period, and be reclassified as infrastructure spend, in the same way the government funds roads, rail, hospitals and schools."

During the general election campaign, Labour had pushed the idea of building on the "grey belt" - land inside the green belt, but on the edge of an existing settlement, or land which had previously been developed.

But Mr Atkin said one of the main obstacles to getting houses built was the lack of available land - and there might be a need to build on green belt land.

"We need to clarify what grey belt is, but that is not really the issue," he said.

"Even if we were to build on every piece of brownfield [former industrial or inner-city] land in the north of England, that would only realise 230,000 homes.

"When you look at the government's ambition of 1.5 million homes, there is a need for a really honest conversation about where those homes are going to be built."

Meanwhile, a businesswoman who has recently bought a house in Yorkshire has said that any new homes which were built as part of the government's housebuilding push needed to have the infrastructure to support them.

Lisa Harding Mottley, who runs a tattoo studio and clothes shop in York, said she and her partner had wanted to buy in the city - but in the end they bought a house in Market Weighton - a 45-minute drive away - due to York's "extortionate" prices.

Ms Harding Mottley said that ahead of the Budget, she wanted Chancellor Rachel Reeves to stick to Labour's housebuilding promises.

She added: "I also want them to support the communities where these houses will be built.

"The infrastructure needs to be there as well. It should be done now, while we wait for these houses to appear."

A government spokesperson said all areas of the country must "play their part" in building the homes the country needed so its 1.5 million target could be delivered.

The spokesperson added: "Our new housing targets have been set in line with the needs of local areas, and take into account affordability pressures so that more homes will be built in the least affordable areas.”

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