The Housing Secretary will roll out a “building acceleration package” as he seeks to speed up the rate of house building across the country.
Steve Reed made the announcement in light of the latest housing and planning figures for England, which show the number of applications received and decided are down from the same period last year.
Some 80,400 applications were received in the period between April and June 2025, down 5% from the previous year.
Planning authorities across the nation decided 80,800 applications, down 1% from the same period the previous year.
However, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government was keen to highlight that 70,800 applications were granted, up 1% from the previous year.
Even so, Housing Secretary Mr Reed described the figures as “unacceptable” and announced he would be rolling out a package aimed at speeding up the rate of approvals and accelerate house building.
Labour has pledged to build 1.5 million new homes before the end of the Parliament, with planning reform high on the agenda to achieve this.
“I will leave no stone unturned to build 1.5 million homes, so families have the key to home ownership in their hands,” Mr Reed said.
“Fixing the archaic planning system won’t happen overnight. But because of the reforms we have introduced, we will see the biggest era of house building in our country’s history.
“With my leadership, the Government will go further and faster to get Britain building. It’s time to build, baby, build.”
Mr Reed took over as Housing Secretary at the start of September, picking up the baton from Angela Rayner after she left Government over a scandal about the amount she had paid in tax on the purchase of a new home.
London is the region of England with the lowest rate of applications granted in the latest data: 83%.
Mr Reed is expected to work with London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan to speed up house building in the capital.
His package of measures will also overhaul the Building Safety Regulator’s performance.
Sir James Cleverly, the shadow housing secretary, said: “Labour are failing people who need homes. They’re killing the market with taxes, over-regulation and economic incompetence.
“They’ve promised to ‘build, build, build’, but their flagship planning reforms clearly aren’t working.
“Labour-run authorities are making things worse – Sadiq Khan’s London has the lowest average of planning decisions granted in the whole of England.
“Only the Conservatives are serious about delivering the homes our young families need and giving business the space to grow.”
