Govt "not afraid" to push on local plans - Maclean

The government will be bold enough to tell local authorities they are failing their residents by not delivering on local plans, according to housing minister Rachel Maclean.

Speaking at Housebuilder’s Housing Market Intelligence Conference in London today (October 5), Maclean said the “only way” to deliver homes people wanted was through local plans. Referring to councils that did not produce timely plans, she said: “I’m not afraid to say you’re failing your residents and you’ll see families who don’t see their children or grandchildren buy a home in their area.”

The housing minister also stated the government’s commitment to housing, telling delegates that housing was a “massively important agenda”. She said the Conservative party conference, concluding in Manchester yesterday, “genuinely” felt “like a housing conference”.

Maclean highlighted the government’s various policy interventions over the past year, also stating the housing department’s intention to “update” the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). She also said the government had not dropped its housing targets and reiterated the government’s intention to deliver 1 million homes in this parliament.

Also speaking at the conference, HBF’s executive chairman Stewart Baseley, who gave a “state of the nation” overview of the …