Andy Burnham’s first speech at a Labour Party Conference yesterday covered many topics of interest for the construction industry
Prime minister Andy Burnham made a long and heartfelt speech at the Labour Conference yesterday and made several promises relating to council housebuilding and UK construction industry support.
While these promises talk a big game, most of them have so far had little evidence to back them up. Nevertheless, those in the industry will be interested in what he had to say, below.
Re-committing to council housebuilding
One of the first things Burnham discussed was a reaffirmation of “the biggest council housebuilding programme since the post-war era, led by Angela Rayner.” He said councils can expect support by unlocking unused public land to create space to build and make housing more affordable.
Furthermore, of newly built council houses, Burnham said “we will reform Right-to-Buy” by “removing it from the new homes we build so they are there for generations to come.”
Councils can also expect new powers regarding empty homes: “We will give councils the power to take control of them (empty homes) and bring them back into the public housing stock.”
Higher standards of privately rented homes are also on the table, with the PM saying: “Landlords who rent out the worst quality homes will be given warnings to improve them. If they refuse, we will make it much easier for councils to acquire those homes and we will legislate if necessary.”
Leasehold reforms also briefly held the spotlight, with a “Bill before Christmas” set to ensure that “the days of you (leaseholders) being squeezed for every penny are coming to an end.”
Burnham also mentioned a shift in philosophy that he is pledging his government to make, saying that they are committed to “not seeing housing only as a market with winners and losers, but as an essential everyone needs for a good life.”
Infrastructure and procurement were also mentioned
The PM announced plans to launch Great British Grid, a branch of Great British Energy dedicated to securing and creating better electrical grid connections after hearing the woes of businesses unable to connect: “You would not believe how many businesses complain to me they can’t get going because they can’t get connected to the grid. It pushes costs up. It drags growth down. And it holds Britain back.”
To address this, Burnham said that Great British Grid will: “increase competition, drive down costs and speed up connections so businesses can expand and grow more quickly.”
Burnham then announced that secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, Angela Eagle MP, will present a new version of the Water Bill to parliament. Burnham said: “The centrepiece of that Bill will be this – the repeal of Margaret Thatcher’s ideological ban on public ownership of water companies.”
He continued: “It will strengthen public control. Mayors will have new powers to hold water companies to account, with tougher consequences for those which repeatedly fail.”
If passed, this will affect how water projects are funded, and will be something contractors will have to consider.
Stephen Teagle, chief executive of partnerships and regeneration at Vistry Group, said: “We welcome the commitment by the Prime Minister to progress with the biggest expansion of council housing since 1945 and we stand ready to assist in the delivery of that. Vistry has a long and established track record of working with local authorities of all political colours across England to deliver new homes of all tenures, provide skills and training opportunities for local people, and create new high-quality transformational places with new shops, public spaces, and a range of amenities for new and existing residents alike. Not only has this enabled councils to deliver new homes across a variety of tenures through joint ventures, it has also enabled them to invest the subsequent development uplift into service delivery and improvement. This is a model which Vistry is proud to have developed and refined, and is one which is ideally placed to assist local authorities in delivering new council homes across a range of affordable tenures and investing in our communities.”
Read the prime minister’s full speech here.
