Planning approvals for new homes at record low, figures show

Daniel Wainwright and Harriet AgerholmData Journalists, BBC VerifyGetty ImagesThe figures strike a blow to the federal government’s promise to ship 1.5 million properties by the following election.The variety of planning approvals for brand new properties in England is unacceptable, the brand new housing secretary has stated, after official information confirmed permission for constructing properties fell to a report low throughout Labour’s first yr in workplace.Fewer than 29,000 initiatives have been granted permission by councils within the yr ending June 2025 – placing a blow to the federal government’s promise to ship 1.5 million properties by the following election.Steve Reed, who has taken over from Angela Rayner as housing secretary, stated fixing the planning system “will not occur in a single day”.Conservative shadow housing secretary Sir James Cleverly stated that Labour had “promised to ‘construct, construct, construct’ however their flagship planning reforms clearly aren’t working”.You possibly can see the figures on your native space in BBC Confirm’s housing tracker.About 7,000 purposes for housing have been granted permission between April and June 2025 – the bottom three-month determine since information started in 1979 and an 8% fall on the identical three months of 2024.An utility may be both “minor” for fewer than 10 properties or “main” for 10 or extra.The information reveals that each the variety of approvals and the general variety of choices taken by councils have fallen.However councils are approving a bigger proportion of those they deal with. Round three-quarters of purposes determined have been accepted within the yr to June 2025, up from 71% the yr earlier than.Separate information from building market intelligence firm Glenigan suggests 221,000 particular person properties have been granted permission within the yr to June, down from 237,000 the yr to June 2024.Labour promised in its election manifesto to ship 1.5 million properties in England by the following basic election. To get to that, there would have to be a mean of about 300,000 new properties per yr.EPANew housing secretary Steve Reed stated the federal government would go “additional and sooner” on constructing homesMr Reed stated: “These figures are unacceptable. I’ll go away no stone unturned to construct 1.5 million properties, so households have the important thing to house possession of their fingers.”His plans embody an overhaul of the Constructing Security Regulator’s efficiency and dealing with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, to unlock home constructing within the capital.That is on prime of reforms already introduced, equivalent to housing targets for native councils that have been set final December. The federal government has additionally pledged a £39 billion funding over 10 years to construct tons of of 1000’s of recent social and reasonably priced properties.Authorities figures utilized in BBC Confirm’s housing tracker recommend the variety of new properties receiving their first power efficiency certificates (EPC) fell throughout Labour’s first yr in workplace, with ministers blaming the slowdown on the earlier Conservative authorities. EPCs are a number one indicator of recent properties in between the releases of annual statistics.Authorities information isn’t accessible on purposes acquired for housing however Planning Portal, which individuals use to use to their native council for permission, reported a giant rise within the variety of new properties requested.Geoff Keal from Planning Portal stated that whereas purposes by means of their service had gone up, attending to the choice stage can take a number of months.”Backlogs imply approvals for this wave of purposes could not seem till later within the yr,” he stated.Housing market analyst Neal Hudson, of BuiltPlace, stated: “Labour hit the bottom working with their housing insurance policies final yr however the problem is that they have been making an attempt to repair the improper downside.”Housebuilders and builders won’t plan for and construct properties if there is no one to purchase them. Sadly that is the case given present home worth ranges and mortgage charges, whereas the federal government’s reasonably priced properties programme is underwhelming given the aspirations for 1.5 million.”