{"id":155787,"date":"2025-10-03T13:50:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T12:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=155787"},"modified":"2025-10-03T13:50:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T12:50:18","slug":"local-government-challenge-review-calls-urgent-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/local-government-challenge-review-calls-urgent-action\/155787\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Government Challenge review calls for urgent action to deliver housing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ‘1.5M New Homes: The Local Government Challenge’ campaign, has published its first annual review, and calls for the government to address top challenges to achieve housing targets<\/h2>\n

The Local Government Challenge<\/a> campaign is an independent campaign that speaks with local councils to identify issues preventing them from delivering on government housing targets.<\/p>\n

The first annual review has identified the 10 most pressing issues that the government must address to achieve the 1.5m new homes target.<\/p>\n

The campaign highlights \u201cchallenge and ingenuity already being shown\u201d<\/h3>\n

So far, the review has found the top 10 issues to be:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Viability<\/li>\n
  2. Funding<\/li>\n
  3. Building safety regulation<\/li>\n
  4. Market stability and investment confidence<\/li>\n
  5. Land availability and assembly<\/li>\n
  6. Density and infrastructure delivery<\/li>\n
  7. Construction industry capacity<\/li>\n
  8. Community engagement and trust<\/li>\n
  9. Gaining planning consent and using Local Plans to support housebuilding<\/li>\n
  10. Council capacity<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    With viability being the number 1 issue, the review found that construction costs have risen by 30-40% in the last five years, and grant rates have not kept up. Safety approvals, shortage of planners, market instability, and reduced investment confidence are all also major issues preventing local council delivery.<\/p>\n

    Toby Fox, founder of 1.5M New Homes: The Local Government Challenge, said:<\/h4>\n

    \u201cOur video interviews on housing sites with a different council each month highlight both the scale of the challenge and the ingenuity already being shown locally. Councils are finding ways to unlock stalled sites, build political will, and engage their communities. This Review analyses those interviews to create a data set enabling government and partners to see how best they can support councils to deliver our shared national ambition of 1.5 million new homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Stephen Teagle, chair of The Housing Forum, said:<\/h4>\n

    \u201cThe Housing Forum works closely with the whole of the housing sector and supply chain. This includes our councils across the country, who we know are keen to build more homes, but face enormous challenges in doing so. We hope that this report will help identify not just the barriers, but also the opportunities and solutions that are available, to help councils fulfil their role as builders and facilitators of much-needed new homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Councils are being held to strict standards<\/h3>\n

    In August, the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) found that five councils were falling short<\/a> of RSH standards, requiring significant improvements.<\/p>\n

    These five councils were East Suffolk Council, Ipswich Borough Council, Leicester City Council, North Kesteven District Council, and Redditch Borough Council.<\/p>\n

    The results of each investigation are below.<\/p>\n

    Of East Suffolk Council:<\/p>\n