Cameron changes planning laws to get 200,000 starter homes built

Prime Minister David Cameron is today telling the Conservative Party conference he wants to see 200,000 new homes for first-time buyers during this parliament. To that end, the PM plans to tear up the requirement for developers to build affordable rental homes.

Sky News says Cameron is using the 50-minute speech to call for a "national crusade to get homes built" and create a home-owning revolution, turning "generation rent" into "generation buy".

The broadcaster quotes from the PM's speech: "When a generation of hardworking men and women in their 20s and 30s are waking up each morning in their childhood bedrooms - that should be a wake-up call for us.

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"We need a national crusade to get homes built. That means banks lending, government releasing land and, yes, planning being reformed."

The changes will "sweep way" existing planning rules which require developers to build a proportion of affordable homes for rent in every new project they undertake, says The Guardian.

Cameron's pledge of 200,000 starter homes for sale is not a new one, says the paper. It first appeared in March before the general election. Dropping the requirement to build affordable rental homes will be "critical" to achieving this target.

In his speech, Cameron is expected to say: "For years politicians have been talking about building what they call affordable homes but the phrase was deceptive. It basically means ones that were only available for rent. What people want are homes they can actually own."

Under existing rules, affordable housing must be available at 20 per cent below the market rent. The value of the new homes must be capped at £450,000 inside London and £250,000 outside. These requirements will now be swept away.

Instead, ministers will change the definition of affordable housing to include low-cost properties for sale to first-time buyers under the age of 40.

The Guardian says the change will be popular with developers because they "prefer building homes for purchase as they immediately receive income on the property's sale, unlike a rented property".