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Gove: ‘We don’t want to be stuck to 300,000 homes a year target’
The housing secretary has said he does not want to be stuck to the government’s 300,000 homes a year target, arguing that he is bound by criteria beyond “arithmetic”.
Speaking on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 this morning, Michael Gove cast doubt on the government’s manifesto promise to build 300,000 homes per year by the middle of this decade.
The housing secretary admitted that the government was unlikely to build 300,000 homes this year, adding that ministers are doing everything they can “in order to ensure more of the right homes are built in the right way in the right places.
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However, he said he did not want “to be tied to a Procrustean bed” in reference to the 300,000 homes target, arguing that “it’s no kind of success simply to hit a target if the homes are built are shoddy”.
“I’m not bound by one criterion alone when it comes to development. Arithmetic is important but so is beauty, so is belonging, so is democracy and so is making sure that we’re building communities,” he added.
Mr Gove’s comments came the day after the Queen’s Speech promised the introduction of a new Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, which will bring forward some of proposals outlined in 2020’s Planning White Paper.
This includes the introduction of a new Infrastructure Levy, which ministers have previously said will replace Section 106.
However, other parts of the Planning White Paper, such as the introduction of a zonal system that would allow developments to automatically receive planning permission in some areas, appear to have been abandoned.
The proposals were fiercely opposed by Conservative backbenchers, including former prime minister Theresa May.
