Labour is taking its lead from King Charles as the new Government presses ahead with plans to tackle the nation’s housing crisis.
The monarch’s trailblazing housing projects in Dorset and Cornwall have inspired Sir Keir Starmer to develop up to a dozen new towns across the UK.
And Labour is promising ‘the largest housebuilding programme since the post-war era’ as it looks to make good on pre-election promises to provide a greater number of affordable homes.
Earlier this month the Prime Minister joined the King on a tour of the latter’s Georgian-style 4,000 home development in Nansledan. And Sir Keir sees the Cornish community as a blueprint for new towns nationwide — with more than 100 locations across England already under consideration.
“I’m really interested in [the King’s housing schemes] and that’s why I wanted to go and see it,” said the Labour leader. “I was struck by the quality of the build, the variety and the fact that you couldn’t tell which was social housing.
“This is about more than bricks and mortar. It’s about the security and stability that owning your own home brings. I know what this means for working people — the roof above our head was everything for our family growing up.”
According to an interim report from the New Towns Taskforce, London, the South East, South West and East of England make up the majority of the 100 sites put forward. A handful of the projects will be new towns, although the majority are likely to expand upon existing conurbations.
“The prospect of new housing on this scale is a huge boost to the construction industry at a time when there’s some understandable nervousness within the sector,” said Callum Thompson, CEO of Business Energy Claims. “We want to ensure that construction firms across the UK are in a strong position to play their part in this significant housebuilding programme — and that includes ensuring none are paying over the odds for their energy.”