There's no yearly housing target...says minister as 1.5 new homes promise looms

Ministers have admitted they no longer have yearly housing targets despite pledging to build 1.5 million new homes by 2029.

Speaking exclusively to The i Paper for BBC Radio 4’s new series Housing Britain , housing and planning minister Matthew Pennycook said he expects housebuilding to ramp up significantly following the implementation of his Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

When pressed on whether Labour can meet its own target, Pennycook said: “We don’t have a 300,000 a year target, we have a 1.5 million new homes target across the Parliament.”

Pennycook argued that a slow start was down to “addressing” a “legacy” of low housebuilding figures from the previous Conservative government.

Housing Secretary Steve Reed said a sharp rise in the number of homes built would be “the wa