Angela Rayner says ‘I hate losing’ and vows to build 1.5m homes | Politics | News

Housing Secretary Angela Rayner has vowed that “NIMBYs” won’t block her plan to build 1.5 million new homes.

She told a Committee of MPs: “I hate losing. I have always been underestimated all my life and I am determined personally not to lose this fight either.”

Ms Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, insisted the Government had “won the argument” for its massive building programme but admitted many opponents of new housing developments had “genuine concerns” about the impact on local schools and health services.

Watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility has predicted the Government will miss its target of 1.5 million new homes in England over five years, saying that instead it expects just 1.3 million to be built across the entire UK.

Her plans have also been slammed by the Conservatives, who accused her of taking decisions out of the hands of local people as well as declaring “war on rural England” by allowing more building in rural areas and on green belt.

However Ms Rayner said she had given local councils across England a firm target of 370,000 homes per year. She told the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee: “They are mandatory and therefore councils, local authorities, will be expected to deliver on them.”

If targets were missed at first then building would be “ramped up” in future years, she said.

Ms Rayner said: “I have always been frustrated by the NIMBY argument. I don’t get that because I think nearly everyone in this country knows a family member that’s got a housing need that isn’t being met.

“A daughter or son who can’t get on the housing ladder or somebody in temporary accommodation, or an elderly relative that wants to downsize but can’t.

“Everybody understands the need for building the houses. I think we’ve won that argument.”

However, she said opposition to new housing developments was sometimes driven by fear that local schools or health services would not be able to cope with increasing numbers of residents, and the Government had to provide new infrastructure to go along with the new homes.

Admitting her plan was ambitious, she said: “There are a number of levers we are pulling at the moment that will hopefully start to turn the tide but it’s a bit like the Titanic, it’s not like a Hackney cab that can turn really quickly. It will take more time in the early stages.”

In the same committee hearing Ms Rayner appealed to opposition parties to back the Government’s efforts to improve health and education services for children with special needs.

She said parents struggled to obtain an education, health and care (EHC) plan which entitled their child for extra help, saying: “It’s so frustrating for families who are at this crisis point.”