In recent weeks the Labour party has reaffirmed its commitment to building 1.5m homes in its first term of government. What is not yet clear is how it intends to achieve this figure. Part of the strategy is a new towns programme, as announced by Angela Rayner at the UKREiiF property conference in Leeds last month and confirmed in last week’s manifesto.

But, while building new settlements in the countryside is a headline-grabbing proposal, this is a multi-year enterprise, relying at the very least on compulsory purchase reform, huge investment in infrastructure, changes to strategic planning, and the formation of development corporations. Even with a good headwind and an improving economy, there’s little chance of the target 300,000 homes each year being built via this route any time soon.

The UK has not achieved anywhere near this level of housing delivery since the 1970s, despite this being a central tenet of the Tory manifesto. Housebuilding has sent the Conservatives into paroxysms, with its own backbench MPs campaigning against the very policies ministers have claimed are necessary to meet these targets. So how might a new administration jump-start housing delivery without getting bogged down in the quagmire of long overdue planning reform? The leafy suburbs of south London might provide a clue.

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