Michael Gove addressed the Conservative Party Conference as he pledged to bring more new-build homes to the north and the midlands as part of the attempt to meet the housing promise set out in their manifesto back in 2019 of 300,000 new homes per year.
The recently appointed Housing Secretary took to the stage at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester and suggested that the government will begin to move away from concentrating their homebuilding efforts on the southeast of England to encourage more development further north. Gove stated his desire to regenerate inner city areas and build more homes on “neglected brownfield sites”.
At a Policy Exchange think tank fringe event, Gove also suggested that the focus on southern areas for new-build projects was misplaced and that “generation rent” were being hit hardest in the more northern areas of the country. Gove explained that “if you really want to help those who are currently in rented accommodation and want to own their own homes, then the focus shouldn’t necessarily be geographically where it has been beforehand.”
Gove says that these actions will be a priority for the government’s levelling up agenda as he moves forward in his new role as Secretary of State for Housing.
