One of the new Labour government's big pledges was to get housebuilding going after years of under-delivery by successive governments caused a housing crisis across the country.
This reached a nadir during the previous government when mandatory housing targets for local councils were scrapped, meaning they could decide themselves how many homes to build.
Spoiler alert: This does not tend to go well for anyone needing somewhere to live.
One part of the plan is to designate some green belt land as grey belt and thus appropriate for development. This would primarily be previously developed land in the green belt and land that doesn’t contribute to any of its aims.
In Medway, this isn’t hugely relevant, as we only have very small areas of designated green belt, primarily west of Strood and Cuxton. No one seemed particularly inclined to build on it anyway. Other than winemakers, anyway, but more on that later.
The most meaningful shift was the reintroduction of mandatory housing targets, meaning every council will have to meet a set government number for new homes or face consequences from the government.
However, the government has created a new formula for the housing targets, meaning local councils are facing different numbers than they were under the former regime.
The new formula has many elements, and you are welcome to read the full thing, but the gist is that urban areas will largely face higher targets, and an affordability calculation feeds into it, too.
Comments