…By Henry George for TDPel Media.
Former levelling up secretary Simon Clarke has argued that dropping housebuilding targets was a “major mistake” made by Chancellor Rishi Sunak and played a role in the Conservatives’ poor performance in the recent local elections.
Clarke blamed the government’s attempts to “pander to the public’s worst instincts” of Nimbyism (Not In My Backyard) on homes, which he argued was failing.
The Tories lost 960 councillors across England in the recent elections, with Labour gaining 635 seats and winning control of 22 councils.
Clarke urged colleagues to focus on the present rather than “raking over the coals of what happened” under past administrations.
Clarke highlighted the need for urgent changes to the government’s housing policy, noting that dropping housebuilding targets was a significant mistake.
He argued that the government needs to get back to building homes that people need, rather than pandering to the public’s worst instincts on this question.
Clarke suggested that the government needs to give more resources to council planning departments, look at incentives for new infrastructure, and take on the “hollowness” of the Nimby position.
He further argued that attempts to out-Nimby the Liberal Democrats and the Greens are not working.
Last year, Rishi Sunak caved to pressure from Tory backbenchers and made the target of building 300,000 houses a year in England advisory rather than mandatory.
Sunak has argued that there is little support for “top-down targets”.
However, Clarke’s remarks suggest that restoring housebuilding targets is necessary to regain lost support in the South East.
Some argue that while housebuilding may be needed to increase the chances of holding onto the northern voters won over by Boris Johnson, it may be damaging to the Tories’ chances in their more traditional southern heartlands.
Rishi Sunak’s “major mistake” of dropping housebuilding targets played a role in the Conservatives’ dire local election results, former levelling up secretary Simon Clarke said.