Labour is waging a “war on rural England” with its overhaul of planning rules, the Tories have argued.
Shadow housing secretary Kevin Hollinrake claimed the “majority” of homes built to reach the Government’s target of 1.5 million homes will go to migrants coming to the UK.
Housing minister Matthew Pennycook branded Mr Hollinrake’s comments as “scaremongering”, and said the Government has “not shied away from controversial decisions”.
In a statement to the Commons, Mr Pennycook said: “Developers must turn supportive words into action, bringing forward new sites and building them out at pace.
“Local authorities must embrace the challenge of higher targets and push for more and better development in their areas.
“We have moved fast, we have not held back, we have not shied away from controversial decisions nor wavered in the face of those who have sought to chip away at our resolve.”
On Thursday, Mr Hollinrake told MPs: “What we do not welcome is the war on rural England he is pursuing.
“Following on the family farm tax, the withdrawal of rural services delivery grant, now we see the massive shift (to) mass-housebuilding in rural areas and on green belts.
“We do not welcome the bulldozing of democratic accountability, we do not welcome the lowering of housing targets for urban areas, including a 20% reduction in London, who are already missing their targets by 50%.
“And we do not welcome an average doubling of 100% increase for predominantly rural areas.”
He added: “Due to the loosening of restrictions on the visa requirements, such as the salary threshold, and the scrapping of the Rwanda deterrent, the majority of the homes they deliver will be required for people coming in to this country rather than for British citizens.”
In response, members on the Labour benches could be heard shouting “shame”, while Mr Pennycook accused the shadow minister of “scaremongering”.
He said: “He knows as well as I do that the majority of homes that developers sell in this country are to British nationals, that most parts of the country have allocation rules in place and local residency requirements, that means that non-British nationals can’t access housing, that only those who are eligible for no recourse to public funds can do so.
“He knows those rules. He’s scaremongering. It’s beneath him, I know that (Mr Hollinrake) doesn’t really believe it.”
Adam Jogee, Labour MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme, said Mr Hollinrake’s comments are “not the kind of gutter politics we should be engaging with”.
Florence Eshalomi, chairwoman of the housing committee, criticised the remarks, saying: “For the shadow secretary of state to reduce this about immigration is wrong. Think about those many children who will be sleeping rough this Christmas.”
The Labour MP for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green also called for a “significant increase in the affordable housing programme next year to allow them to meet the Government’s targets”.
Mr Pennycook accused the Tories of engineering the decline of social housing, adding: “We’ll set out details in the multi-year spending review next year, but we do want to prioritise the delivery of social-rented homes, given the important role they play in addressing the housing crisis.”
During the session, Mr Hollinrake claimed Mr Pennycook is taking away the right of individuals to object to planning applications, saying: “The minister himself used that right in 2021 to object an application for 1,500 homes on a brownfield site in his constituency.”
Mr Pennycook replied: “I objected to a 1,500 home scheme that I thought was poor quality and we could do better.
“It’s very interesting, and I say this to the members opposite, that consent was given many, many years ago – not a spade has been put in the ground.
“It is the type of speculative development we need to see less of.”
Bob Blackman, Conservative MP for Harrow East, said: “The minister has alluded to one of the challenges there is on planning permissions, namely that any one day there’s something like a million permissions for new housing that are not built and developers ration the supply in order to keep the price high.
“So will he consider, which I think he did in opposition, a principle of ‘use it or lose it’?”
Mr Pennycook replied: “Local authorities already have powers to issue a completion notice to require a developer to complete their development if it’s stalled.
“To bring greater transparency and accountability in this area, we’re seeking to go further and take the necessary steps to implement build-out reporting.
“But I am giving a lot of attention, I can assure him to what more we might do on build-out, because developers have made commitments to increase the pace of build-out across the country, we need to make sure they follow through with that.”
Sir John Hayes, Conservative MP for South Holland and The Deepings, described Mr Pennycook as a “thoughtful and diligent minister” who shares his “disdain for the identikit, soulless, ubiquitous housing estates” built during his own lifetime.
Sir John asked: “Will he write to every local authority making it clear that design is a key planning determinant, an absolute salient?”
Mr Pennycook replied: “Well-designed places do remain at the heart of planning policy.
“There’s an entire chapter of the NPPF (National Planning Policy Framework), as you will know, that remains devoted to well designed places and the changes we’re making to the presumption today will ensure that when it comes to national policy on design, those expectations need to hold in the balance of decisions that the Planning Inspectorate make.”
