Party backs proposals that allow families to “dream of home ownership”
County Durham Labour has joined the national mission to get Britain building again, addressing a crippling housing shortage made worse by the Tory-led Coalition running the county council.
The Party backs proposals, launched today by the Deputy Prime Minister, that will allow families to “dream of a home to live in”, as a large part of the proposed housing build is social housing, currently not even a possibility for most families
Angela Rayner today launches plans to lay the foundations with an overhaul of the planning system, including a review of the greenbelt to identify ‘grey belt’ land that can be utilised to help meet local housing needs, with a set of ‘golden rules’ driving 50% delivery of affordable homes.
Labour has pledged to deliver 1.5 million more homes to tackle a housing crisis that has dragged on for more than a decade, locking many out of the opportunity to purchase good homes.
County Durham Labour’s Housing lead Cllr Kevin Shaw said:
“Nothing is too good for families in County Durham, especially the safety and security of owning your own home.
“After 14 years of failure, the new Labour Government is getting Britain building again and Durham County Council must play its part in delivering the homes that local people need, across the entire county.”
In County Durham, the previous Labour-led council put in place a house building programme in 2021 to deliver 500 new homes within five years. Almost four years later and not one council-built home has been delivered.
Cllr Shaw added:
“The Tory-led Coalition has failed County Durham, just as the Tory Government failed the country.
“The last Conservative Government left Britain broke and broken and it now falls to Labour to fix the foundations and get this country moving. The work of change has begun and that means getting serious about building the 1.5 million homes we need to tackle the worst housing crisis in generations.”
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said:
“Today marks a significant step to getting Britain building again.
“Our decisive reforms to the planning system correct the errors of the past and set us on our way to tackling the housing crisis, delivering 1.5 million homes for those who really need them.
“And something I am personally proud of, our new flexibilities for councils will boost the number of social and affordable homes, and give working families a better route to a secure home.”