Rachel Reeves has declared war on opponents of new housing developments as she set out plans to “get Britain building” again.
The new chancellor said she would not allow so-called “Nimbys (Not In My Back Yard)” to block homes being built where they are needed.
In her first major speech since the election, she set a target of 1.5 million new homes being built by the time of the next election.
That means local councils will have to hit mandatory housing targets, meaning they must allow them to be built in their areas.
Planning rules will also be relaxed to allow new developments to be placed on some parts of the green belt.
“It will still be, in the first instance, up to local authorities and local communities to decide where housing is built,” she said.
“But we will bring back those mandatory housing targets so the answer cannot always be no. So it will be up to local communities to decide where the housing is to be built, but it has to be built.
“If the answer is always no, we’ll continue as we are. And continuing as we are means living standards continuing to decline and it means public services continuing to deteriorate.
“I’m not willing to accept that status quo and so we have got to get Britain building and we’ve got to ensure that families can get on the housing ladder.”
Asked directly if she was a Yimby (Yes In My Back Yard), Reeves said: “I do support development, and as a constituency MP I’ve done just that.
“We need the private sector to build homes. We’re not going to be in the business of building those homes directly. We need the construction sector and the housebuilding sector to build those homes, and we have announced today that some homes that have been stalled will now go forward.
“This is not a green light for any type of housing. We will take an interventionist approach to make sure we have the right housing mix that our country needs and our people need.”
