Meeting of the Parliament 12 November 2024
As I indicated earlier, we are happy to work with anyone who can help us to move the agenda forward.
I am just back from a British-Irish Council meeting last week, where I had close engagement with not only the Northern Irish Government but the Welsh Government, the Government of Ireland and the UK Government’s new housing minister in the House of Lords. We had a very useful conversation about what we can learn from each other. It is interesting to note that we all face the same challenges.
We have had a close look at what the UK Government is proposing, and we are already either doing or working on delivering pretty much everything on its agenda.
The calculation method is interesting. When we use the UK Government’s proposed new calculation method for housing targets against our housing landscape, we find that it delivers a lower number than we already have in place through the housing need and demand assessment and minimum all-tenure housing land requirement system.
The UK Government is taking forward a five-year housing land supply requirement, which is already in place through our local development plans. It talks about a 10 per cent affordable target, and we are already at a 25 per cent affordable target. The UK Government talks about brownfield and community infrastructure activities, which are already in NPF4 policies. It also talks about increasing fees, which we have already taken steps on, and about 300 more planners, which we will more than match on a proportionate basis.
We are working closely with others and learning where we can, but it is interesting to note that we are already delivering on much of what the UK Government is proposing.