Gove warns against prioritising quantity over quality of new homes
Michael Gove has warned against a “dash for quantity” as he faces calls to accelerate housebuilding in the UK and enable more first-time buyers to get on the property ladder.
Backing a new tool by Policy Exchange to instil confidence in the planning process, the housing secretary said: “If we think of housing purely in numbers, we risk forgetting that we are building not ‘units’ and ‘public open spaces’, but homes and settlements for future generations”.
Gove warned of the perils of prioritising quantity over quality, saying that “for too long, quality has been viewed by many as a planning impediment”. He added that doing “placemaking” right involves more than just building homes, but also ensuring places are “beautiful” with enough green spaces and pleasant streets.
The tool developed by the think tank is intended to help developers and planners think carefully about the strengths and weaknesses of a project. It looks at the transport links around the proposed development, crime and safety, health and wellbeing of residents and many other benchmarks.
Policy Exchange believes that by scrutinising new and existing developments through the tool it will be possible to “build confidence in the wider social value of new residential schemes during the planning process” and unlock more housing by ensuring local communities don’t oppose it.
Gove’s comments come after the Conservative Party dropped housing targets last year.
Rishi Sunak decided to scrap the mandatory target of building 300,000 homes per year in England following a backbench rebellion. The decision was criticised by housing campaigners and by Labour, who have said they would reintroduce the target if they win the next general election.
In May, Sunak also reinstated his commitment to protecting the green belt from new developments. Labour has instead said it would go ahead with new developments on it as long as it’s right for the local community.
In the meantime, the cost of a two-year fixed-rate mortgage in the UK rose above six per cent yesterday, making it even harder for first-time buyers to afford a home of their own.
Rates on buy-to-let mortgages rose quicker than those on residential deals, with the average two-year fixed rate going from 6.21 per cent on Friday to 6.3 per cent on Monday, according to Moneyfacts.