At the gathering in Bournemouth, the Liberal Democrats debated and voted on the party’s policy paper, Tackling the Housing Crisis in England, ahead of plans to finalise their manifesto for the next General Election.
During the debate, party Housing Spokesperson, Helen Morgan MP, argued that it was better to create local targets to “bring communities with us”, given the national version had “been in place for decades, and has utterly failed to deliver the homes we need”. However, an amendment tabled by the Young Liberals to restore the 380,000 target was overwhelmingly passed.
The Liberal Democrats policy paper also calls for:
- A national target for building social homes, aiming for 150,000 a year by the end of the next parliament. With new powers for local authorities to build their own social and affordable housing.
- A ten-year emergency programme to insulate Britain’s homes as well as new standards to ensure new homes are warm, cheap to heat and produce minimal emissions.
- Ensuring developers build the appropriate infrastructure needed for new housing developments.
- Abolishing leaseholds for residential properties and effectively ending ground rents by cutting them to a nominal fee.
- Introducing a fair deal for renters, including longer default tenancies, rent smoothing over the course of a tenancy, and banning no-fault evictions.
- New powers for local authorities to control and manage second homes and holiday lets.
- Expansion of Neighbourhood Planning, more democratic engagement in Local Plans, reforming the Land Compensation Act to ensure the land can be bought at a fair price and extending the party's proposed Commercial Landowner Levy to land with planning permission, but not yet built.
- Building 10 new garden cities to help tackle the housing crisis.
Propertymark political conference attendance
Propertymark’s Head of Policy and Campaigns, Timothy Douglas, attended the Conference in Bournemouth meeting with politicians, Councillors and members ahead of the housing debate. He will also be attending major political the Conservative and Labour Party conferences in October, where Propertymark has an exhibition stand and will be aiming to educate MPs and parliamentarians, as well as listen to the issues in their constituencies.
Propertymark has guidance material, case studies and position papers to support our solutions and we’ll be encouraging delegates to sign up to a pledge for regulation and mandatory qualifications for all estate and letting agents.
We need to build more homes and targets are important, especially when they are linked to what is needed across different tenures. They focus minds on the task at hand and highlight the scale of the challenge that governments and our political leaders need to meet for generations to come.
Alongside a focus on housebuilding, we are pleased to see the Liberal Democrats shine a spotlight on the need to build more social homes, reform and abolish leasehold as well as the need for a long-term programme to insulate people’s homes.
Legislation to reform the private rented sector remain on the table and the conference provided Propertymark with an opportunity to engage with opposition politicians so we can shape these proposals as best as possible and ensure our members voices are heard.
