Keir Starmer’s ‘big build’ on the ‘green belt’: Labour leader to unveil plan for a ‘new generation’ of large towns with Georgian-style houses by reclassifying ‘low quality’ protected land such as car parks

Keir Starmer will today vow to put up Georgian-style townhouses in urban areas and build a number of new towns by reclassifying chunks of green belt land as fit for development.

The Labour Leader is setting out his plans for a decade in power at the party’s conference in Liverpool, which is expected to include a target of 1.5million new homes over five years.

At the heart of Starmer’s ‘big build’ is a controversial plan to release ‘low-quality’ green belt land such as scrubland and car parks for housing development, which Labour would brand ‘grey belt’.

Georgian-style town houses are expected to be favoured to maximise the impact, with tough rules about making properties affordable. 

And a new generation of new towns like Harlow, Welwyn Garden City, Stevenage, Crawley, Basildon and Milton Keynes would be built as part of a ‘decade of renewal’, Sir Keir says. 

Dozens of sites are already being considered under the policy, with rumours that the M1 corridor and land around Cambridge would be earmarked. Tony Blair’s New Labour government pushed for ‘eco towns’ in 2007 – and Gordon Brown backed them when he took over – but most of the projects fell away due to public discontent.

Sir Keir will today lay out an ambition to construct huge numbers of new homes, and even new towns, by streamlining planning and removing obstacles. 

State-backed companies will be given compulsory purchase powers, with infrastructure such as schools and GP surgeries ‘hard-wired’ into the developments.

But controversially the Labour leader will suggest that ‘low-quality’ green belt such as scrubland and car parks should be tagged as ‘grey belt’.

Drawing a clear dividing line with the Tories – who are badly split over how hard to push on housebuilding – Sir Keir will say: ‘That pebbledashed semi was everything to my family. 

‘It gave us stability through the cost of living crises of the Seventies, served as a springboard for the journey I’ve been on in my life. 

‘And I believe every family deserves the same.’ 

Sir Keir is calling for a ‘decade of national renewal’ to ‘heal’ the country, as he tries to seal the deal with voters – and outlines controversial plans to reclassify the green belt.

But he will warn activists at the gathering in Liverpool against complacency, despite the latest poll showing the party in an 16 point lead.

Worryingly for the Tories, their standing has actually gone backwards since Rishi Sunak wrapped up their conference last week.   

Teeing up the speech in a round of interviews this morning, Labour frontbencher Pat McFadden said Britain is ‘a country where it takes too long to build things… we’re going to have to make building things in this country a quicker process’.

Developers will get ‘planning passports’ allowing them to build on brownfield land, with a ‘stronger presumption in favour of permission’. 

Design specifications will urge ‘gentle urban development’, pointing to the tall townhouses popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. 

The Tories are split between shire Tories who are against development and pro-housing MPs who argue the party must do more to attract younger voters. 

And at its conference last week, Lib Dem members forced the leadership to keep annual housebuilding targets in its manifesto.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves pledged yesterday to overhaul the ‘antiquated planning system’ and slash the time it takes to approve major infrastructure projects.