Councils can build homes again, but funding alone won’t drive delivery

At the Labour Party Conference last month, the Prime Minister reinforced the government’s desire to get councils building again. Promising the biggest council housebuilding programme since the post-war era, he talked about restoring stronger democratic control over housing, reforming right to buy for newly built homes and giving councils the power to take control of long-term empty properties and bring them back into public use.

Taken hand in hand with his recent commitments to affordable housing funding and support for council-led development, it’s clear that we should take the government’s ambition seriously.

Empowering councils to deliver housing is a welcome idea. Local authorities have a unique understanding of the communities they serve and the importance of safe, secure housing to local economic growth, social mobility and public wellbeing. With that in mind though, if we are serious about delivering a new generation of council housing, the conversation cannot stop at funding. 

Any large-scale council housebuilding programme’s success depends just as much on whether local authorities have the capacity, capability and support needed to translate ambition into outcomes 

For many years, public conversation around housing has focused on access to investment, with the consensus being that with the correct funding, projects will speed through to the ‘spades in the ground’ stage with ease. In reality, while funding remains essential, it is only one part of the picture. Any large-scale council housebuilding programme’s success depends just as much on whether local authorities have the capacity, capability and support needed to translate ambition into outcomes.

Earlier this year, SCAPE and the Local Government Information Unit research highlighted concerns among senior local authority leaders about maintaining delivery momentum in the current operating environment. Importantly, respondents reported that the greatest disruption to projects typically occurred long before construction begins, during project development, approvals and procurement.

Realising the government’s housing ambitions will require councils to have efficiency baked in at the very start of projects. Building more homes requires access to expertise, delivery partners, robust supply chains and procurement routes that help projects progress at pace. Without that delivery infrastructure around them, even the most well-funded housing programmes risk becoming slower, more complex and more difficult to realise.

Often, procurement is brushed off as a box-ticking exercise, but it can be one of the most effective tools available to support successful delivery and has an important role to play in this next era of council house delivery. Indeed, as the Prime Minster highlighted at his Party conference, Government procurement can be a powerful lever for economic growth, helping to strengthen regional economies, support reindustrialisation and unlock investment in communities across the country. In housing delivery, well-designed frameworks provide early access to experienced partners, established supply chains and specialist expertise, helping councils navigate complexity and move projects forward with greater confidence right from the outset.

Done well, procurement can also help authorities align housing delivery with wider ambitions around employment, skills, regeneration and place-making. It can ensure public investment works harder for the communities it is intended to serve by giving councils greater control over how value is created locally.

Furthermore, through social value requirements, skills programmes and local supply chain engagement, housing projects can contribute to stronger communities long after construction has finished. This is especially significant following the introduction of the new Procurement Act 2023, which places greater emphasis on leveraging procurement for public benefit. 

Realising the government’s housing ambitions will require councils to have efficiency baked in at the very start of projects. 

As local authorities reassume a greater role in housebuilding, the focus should be as much on creating the right conditions for success as on the scale of delivery. The government’s renewed commitment to council housebuilding could unlock regeneration opportunities and support economic growth up and down the country. Frameworks have a key part to play, providing a route to the specialist expertise, certainty and collaboration needed to help projects move from ambition to reality.

Caroline Compton-James is deputy chief executive at SCAPE