Steve Reed appointed housing secretary

Steve Reed has been appointed housing secretary.

Reed has moved from his previous role as environment secretary to take up the housing brief as part of Keir Starmer’s reshuffle prompted by the resignation of Angela Rayner earlier today.

Reed has been the MP for Streatham and Croydon North since 2012. Between 2006 and 2012 he was the leader of Lambeth Council and was credited with improving the local authority, which was graded at the lowest one-star by the then regulator the Audit Commission when he took the role.

He co-chaired the Vauxhall-Nine Elms-Battersea regeneration board which was set up to co-ordinate the 20,000-home regeneration plans for the area.

In his role as environment secretary he described water infrastructure as “critical for housing development” and pledged to align water infrastructure investment and spatial planning.

In 2021, when he was shadow communities secretary he was heavily critical of the then Conservative government’s plans to reform the planning system, particularly moving to a zoning system under which councillors would have had less of input on planning decisions. He described these plans as a “renewed assault on local democratic control of planning and regeneration.”

The Labour government is also seeking to liberalise the planning system and has introduced measures to parliament to transfer decision making powers on more applications away from councillors to planning officers. Sector bodies will be watching closely for any changes to planning policy.

Reed has also criticised housebuilders for ‘land banking’ saying “we need new measures that will incentivise developers to get shovel-ready new homes built far more quickly”.

Reed grew up in St Albans, Hertfordshire, and worked previously in educational and business publishing.

Reacting to the appointment, housing sector figures urged the government to keep its commitments on planning and housing despite the change in secretary of state.

Jonathan Layzell, chief executive of housing association Stonewater: said: “The government’s ambitious targets and strong investment in affordable housing have played a crucial role in enabling housing providers like Stonewater to plan confidently for the long term. It is essential that these commitments remain firm.”

Mark Washer, group chief executive of Sovereign Network Group said the appointment of a “strong” secretary of state in Steve Reed shows “housing has maintained its central place in the government’s agenda.”

He said: “He will need to make sure the department and its 1.5 million-home milestone carries the same weight in Cabinet.” 

Brian Berry, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders, said the appointment “must signal the start of a new drive for delivery”

He said: “The former Housing Secretary made several high-profile announcements aimed at getting Britain building again, but the sad fact is that the number of new homes has fallen short of the 300,000 that are needed each year.

“Support for first time buyers is non-existent and the proposed planning reforms to speed up development have yet to be materialise.”