Gove’s revamp ‘won’t touch surface of homes crisis’

MICHAEL GOVE’S overhaul of planning rules “won’t touch the surface” when it comes to solving the housing crisis, the boss of a major British builder has said.

Graham Prothero, chief executive at MJ Gleeson, said the Housing Secretary’s plans to “build the right homes in the right places” were not enough to alleviate Britain’s deep housing crisis.

Mr Gove earlier this week announced a revamp that includes plans to streamline the process to convert office buildings into homes and introduced a “brownfield first” approach, which will push councils to build on derelict spaces such as old car parks and former industrial estates. Planning rules governing extensions will also be relaxed.

He said the change would help to “deliver thousands of new homes where people want to live and work, without concreting over the countryside”.

However, Mr Prothero said: “Michael Gove’s announcement was a small positive, but it will not touch the surface.”

The chief executive said the interventions were not enough to reverse the decline in home construction seen since mandatory local housing targets were dropped by the Government.

Mr Gove watered down housing targets last year by making a target to build 300,000 homes a year advisory rather than compulsory. More than 60 local authorities have withdrawn their housing plans since the announcement.

Mr Prothero said: “After [Mr Gove] confirmed that he was downgrading local housing targets from compulsory to advisory, house building levels dropped.”

Just under 235,000 new homes were built last year and the Home Builders Federation (HBF) has warned new starts could fall to as low as 120,000 a year. Referring to the relaxed building targets, Mr Prothero said: “This was a criti cal mistake. The Conservative Government has worked hard to try and present itself as the party for home ownership but the fact is, the changes that they have made will make it difficult for homebuyers in the future.”

Housing has become a key political issue ahead of an expected general election later this year.

Support for the Conservatives among voters aged between 25 to 49 has slumped from 25pc, when the party came to power in 2010, to 10pc now.

Difficulties getting on to the housing ladder are seen as a key reason why this group have turned against the Tories. Last year, the number of first-time buyers dropped to decade low.

Labour has vowed to boost housebuilding by allowing developers to build on non- desirable parts of the green belt referred to by the party as the “grey belt”.

Sir Keir Starmer claims his plan could lead to the construction of an additional 1.5 million homes.

MJ Gleeson predominantly builds homes aimed at first-time buyers. The company, which is valued at £290m, built more than 700 homes in the second half of 2023, but this was down from nearly 900 across the same period the year before. Activity has been held up by a surge in mortgage rates, which has made it more difficult for first-time buyers to get on the housing ladder.

Mr Prothero’s comments came as Mjgleeson reported that its profit before tax had dropped by more than half to £7.2m in six months to Dec 31 2023 compared with the same period the year before.

Despite the sharp fall, Mr Prothero said the results reflected “a robust performance given the conditions of the housing market”.

Mortgage rates have risen sharply over the past two years amid ructions in the bond market and rising interest rates. The average two-year fixed residential mortgage rate now stands at 5.68pc, according to Moneyfacts, while the average five-year is 5.26pc.

The Department of Levelling, Housing and Communities declined to comment.

‘The changes that the Tories have made will make it difficult for homebuyers in the future’