Highlighting the Government’s “new homes accelerator” project, which aims to overcome problems holding up housing projects, Sir Keir said: “We’ve already made progress in just seven months, unblocking 20,000 stuck homes.
Housing Secretary Ms Rayner said: “While our vision for the next generation of new towns is setting the stage for a housebuilding revolution in the years to come, urgent action is needed now to build the homes and infrastructure that our local communities are crying out for.
Georgian townhouses and Edwardian mansion blocks are among the inspirations for the kinds of homes Labour would like to build, though the Government has dropped a Tory requirement to build “beautiful” homes from planning guidelines.
Sir Keir cited variation in buildings and “roads that aren’t all straight” among elements he would like to see in the proposed new towns, and said while it was difficult to define beauty, homes that were “well-designed” were a priority for him.
While Sir Keir acknowledged it would “take time” to build all of the new towns, he added: “I want to make sure that these construction sites have started and are up and running and we are building them by the time of the next election.”.
