Levelling-up legislation ‘will make housing crisis worse’

A FORMER levelling-up minister has warned that legislation tabled by the department will exacerbate the country’s housing crisis.

Eddie Hughes, the MP for Walsall North, who was a minister for housing until September, said Downing Street must ensure that attempts to increase affordable housing stock are helped and not “hindered” by reforms in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill.

He has backed a report highlighting that the parts of the country most in need of affordable housing will suffer worst because of the “infrastructure levy” proposed in the Bill.

The report, published today by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) argues that the levy will “make a bad situation worse” as it will lead to fewer affordable homes being built in those areas.

Parts of the UK deemed by ministers to be the most in need of “levelling up” – such as Burnley, Middlesbrough and Stoke-on-trent – have among the lowest residential land values in the country, the CSJ found.

The report says this means the infrastructure levy that requires developers to pay local councils a portion of the gross development value to spend on building affordable homes or other projects would generate less in these areas. In a foreword for the report, Mr Hughes warns: “We must ensure that … communities are not left further behind as a result of changes to legislation”.

He goes on to say: “Given the need for more affordable housing …when new homes are built, the Government should seek to ringfence infrastructure levy receipts for these purposes.”

A spokesman for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “We’re investing £11.5 billion to build more of the affordable, quality homes this country needs.

“The levy will be expected to deliver as much if not more on-site affordable housing than at present.”