House-building failure is electoral disaster, PM told

Stand up to rebels who fear impact new developments have on the environment, senior Tory warns PM

A FORMER Tory chairman last night warned Rishi Sunak to stand up to Tory rebels trying to stop him building more homes – saying that a failure to do so would keep the Conservatives out of power for a generation.

In an article for telegraph.co.uk, Jake Berry said the Tories would not win a fifth term unless they ape Margaret Thatcher’s plans for the mass-ownership of property and build new homes for younger voters.

He warned: “Conservatives need to deliver for the next generation if we ever expect them to vote for us.”

His appeal came a day after the Prime Minister was forced to delay longawaited planning reforms following a rebellion by dozens of Tory backbenchers against mandatory, centrally set targets to build 300,000 homes a year.

A total of 50 Conservative MPS signed an amendment to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill which would have abolished the targets.

The climbdown came after Theresa Villiers, the former Environment Secretary, said the plans would encourage “development which damages the environment and quality of life”.

She told MPS: “We cannot carry on as we are with the toxic impact these targets are having … We on the backbenches are determined that the concerns of our constituents on urban development will be heard loud and clear.”

But Downing Street insisted it was standing by the target to build 300,000 homes a year.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “When it comes to housing, we want to build more homes in the right places, we are committed to that goal, which is by the mid-2020s.”

Also writing for telegraph.co.uk, Damian Green, the former de facto deputy prime minister, said: “The current system does nothing like enough to protect our environment.

“As such, I have signed a number of amendments which take away the current top-down targets which governments have relied on for years as a way of building more homes.

“As a result, my colleagues and I are being vilified as “nimbys” who will turn a generation of young people away from the Conservative Party.”

But Mr Berry called for a New Deal for Housing including planning reforms to replace the need for centrally-driven targets, warning that a failure to act would spell “electoral disaster for the Conservative Party for a generation”.

Reforms would include taking planning out of the control of district councils and handing it to counties and elected mayors – reducing the pressure that “disgruntled residents can bring to bear against local politicians”.

And he called for efforts to tackle land-banking. He said developers should be made to pay council tax if nothing has been built for four years.