Last week’s reshuffle has brought a “change in tone” on housing, industry sources said following a meeting with the new Housing Secretary.
Steve Reed, who replaced Angela Rayner as Housing Secretary following her resignation last week, issued what officials described as a “call to arms” at a meeting with developers on Thursday.
Pledging to “build, baby, build”, he said the Government was “doubling down on our plans to unleash one of the biggest eras of building in our country’s history and we are backing the builders all the way”.
One of those present at the meeting told the PA news agency they had detected a “definite change in tone”, with Mr Reed focusing on areas beyond planning reform, such as mortgage availability, Government support for home buyers and the costs faced by developers.
They told PA: “I think we are already seeing a broader look and engagement from that secretary of state level than maybe we did, which can only be positive, but clearly it’s very early days.”
Adding that officials had shown a different perspective under Mr Reed’s direction, they described the new Housing Secretary as “someone who is clearly a doer”.
Although the source said there was little discussion of policy at the meeting, they urged Mr Reed to continue engaging with industry and urge the Treasury to avoid imposing further costs on developers.
Labour’s manifesto promise, to build 1.5 million new homes by 2029, has been one of the Government’s top priorities, with Ms Rayner securing £39 billion from the Treasury for social and affordable homes at this year’s spending review.
It has also been a focus of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill currently making its way through Parliament.
The Bill restores mandatory housing targets for local authorities, legislates for a generation of new towns and reforms the planning system to make it harder to block developments.
But campaigners have raised concerns that the legislation would allow developers to effectively disregard environmental rules and community concerns.
