End £30bn bank benefits, tax wealth like work, break the gas price link, launch a rooftop solar revolution and build 1.4m homes. Peoplenomics in five steps.
Public Land Could Deliver 215,000 UK Homes. Why the Wait?
Public brownfield land could take 215,000 UK homes, with 176,000 more on mixed sites – a quarter of Labour's housing target. So why is building still so slow?
Thousands of housing plots "ready to go"
As many as a quarter of the building plots the government needs to hit its ambitious housing target are already in public ownership and ready for development.
Babelfish analysis of the official brownfield land register has found potential plots for up to 215,000 homes that are owned by public authorities, and a further 176,000 in mixed ownership.
That's just over 25% of the 1.5million homes that Labour wants to see built this parliament.
One of the largest developments on the register is Barking Riverside, in east London, which has been earmarked for major development since the 1980s. It has planning permission for 20,000 homes, 4,000 of them affordable, plus up to three new schools and two parks.
But so far just 7,000 people can call Barking Riverside home. Around 3,200 homes are finished and, although construction continues under a joint venture between the Mayor of London and developer L&Q, it will take another two decades.
Transport
The former site of Barking Power Station was to be part of the first phase of the development of the London Docklands until the 1990s property crash. Housebuilder Bellway bought the site in 1994 and 10,800 homes were due to be completed by 2027, but planning was conditional on the transport infrastructure being in place.
When then London Mayor Boris Johnson pulled the plug on the necessary train extension in 2008, construction stalled. It was 14 years before the alternative overland line and a riverboat opened.
Fresh planning permission was obtained this year for a total of 20,000 homes.
A spokesperson for Barking Riverside Limited blamed the "challenge of securing funding for the major transport infrastructure required to unlock a development of this scale".
Adding: "In 2016, the partners both contributed a substantial upfront investment to support this infrastructure. Major work is continuing."
The Ministry of Housing said: "We are working to better understand the opportunity of publicly owned sites, and how we can ensure that there are no blockers to the effective use of this land."
Other relevant stories
Putting solar on 1.8m UK social homes would save households £618 a year, add £5.1bn to the economy and support 7,600 jobs a year, new CEBR modelling shows.
Just 7.7% of council homes in England, Scotland and Wales have solar panels, our investigation finds. At this rate, catching up will take nearly 80 years.
Housing associations sold 5,250 homes in 2024-25 as 1.3m households sat on waiting lists. Councils want first refusal to buy them back before they're lost.
Mortlake's Stag Brewery site has permission for 1,000+ homes, yet it's been 'mothballed'. As UK housebuilding hits a 10-year low, why are we still waiting?