New housing secretary urges sector to ‘build, baby, build’

The new housing secretary has called on developers and housebuilders to ‘build, baby, build’ after a meeting with leading executives.

Steve Reed, previously environment secretary, took up his current role last week after his predecessor, Angela Rayner, was forced to resign after a scandal surrounding her tax affairs.

His call-to-arms, which echoes the “drill, baby, drill” slogan popularised by Donald Trump, came after a meeting this week between Reed and key figures from the country’s leading housebuilders and residential developers, including Vistry, Barratt Redrow, Landsec and Muse. 

According to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, the roundtable event included discussion of upcoming planning reforms, how the government can help remove barriers to development and what it can do to get spades in the ground quicker.  

After the meeting, the secretary of state visited a housing scheme in Bedfordshire.

In his statement, Reed did not announce any new policies or planned changes from the agenda set out by his predecessor, but recommitted to the government’s target of building 1.5 million homes in this parliament and promised the announcement of new measures in the coming weeks and months.

The government’s planning and infrastructure bill is expected to pass into law soon, while its New Towns Taskforce is also due to reveal its recommendations.

>> Read more: What does the appointment of Steve Reed as new housing secretary mean for housebuilding? 

“I want us to build, baby, build, so we can put the key to a decent home into the hands of every single family that needs it,” said Reed.

“We are doubling down on our plans to unleash one of the biggest eras of building in our country’s history and we are backing the builders all the way.  

“Through major planning reform and investment, we will break down the barriers to development and build the 1.5 million homes this country needs as part of our Plan for Change.” 

His comments came as new data from Barbour ABI showed that residential contract awards had fallen to new lows in August, dropping 35% on July, while planning approvals for new homes also fell sharply - down 29%

The construction analysts said the figures had been on a downward trend throughout Labour’s first year in office.

“Steve Reed’s call to ‘build, baby, build’ looks dead on arrival if these figures aren’t turned around quickly,” said Barbour ABI’s head of business and client analytics Ed Griffiths. 

“The latest housing data is bleak, with steep falls in both contract awards and planning applications, despite the efforts of his predecessor.”

“A lack of confidence in the sector – driven by viability challenges, delays and wider economic pressures – is proving hard to overcome. 

“Contract awards have been declining steadily for months, and both planning applications and approvals remain flat, with some sharp drops in recent periods”.

While housebuilding figures continued their downward trend, Barbour noted that there had been gains in commercial and retail contract awards.