From Dreams To Doorsteps: Yuletide Reflections On 1.5 Million Homes

"I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams" as the song goes. On Day 6 of our Yule Blog 2025, we take a look at some developments this year which may have brought such dreams a step closer to reality

The festive season brings dreams of home. For some this means being with family and friends. For others, the dream is to live in a home of their own – unfortunately quite a challenge for many. The government is on a mission to change this. Today's Yule Blog post considers how 2025 may have brought dreams of new homes a little step closer to reality for homeowners and occupiers in England. We take a brief look at next steps for new towns, the emergency support package for London, and an update on the use of hotels to house asylum seekers.

New towns

The government has pledged to deliver 1.5 million homes in England by 2029 – not only to tackle visible and invisible homelessness, but also to support economic growth. One of the ways it hopes to achieve this is through a new generation of new towns. We learned more about what this might involve when MHCLG published the final report of the New Towns Taskforce alongside the government's initial response in September 2025. For more information on this, see our November 2025 TCPA Update here.

The New Towns Taskforce has recommended 12 sites as potential locations for new towns of 10,000 homes or more, from standalone greenfield towns to urban extensions and city centre regeneration projects. The Task Force has also recommended delivery vehicles, in particular development corporations, and changes to the planning system to enable the new towns to come forward. They call for the new generation of new towns to be vision-led communities, designed in accordance with ten "placemaking principles". 

In its initial response, the government "warmly welcomed" all twelve locations and wants to "get spades in the ground" on at least three new towns in this Parliament. It is currently assessing the proposals, undertaking a Strategic Environmental Assessment and Habitats Regulations assessments, and will respond fully to the report in Spring 2026. However, now that the 12 recommended locations are known, both the New Towns Taskforce and the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee (in their Land Value Capture Inquiry report published in October 2025) have called for quick action to protect land value capture opportunities from the prospective sites, including via site acquisition, pending the final announcement. Compulsory acquisition powers are being modernised to make it easier for local authorities to use them for such purposes, through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill (shortly to receive Royal Assent) and by implementing relevant provisions in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act (LURA) 2023. Just last week, the government brought into force the remaining part of section 181 of the LURA 2023 through the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 (Commencement No 8 and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2025, now making certain CPO information and notices accessible online. 

The October 2025 report of the House of Lords Built Environment Committee inquiry into delivering new towns concluded that "new towns will need government leadership and funding" if they are to succeed. The government seems committed to this path and 2025 has certainly seen some progress. We look forward to hearing more news next spring.

Homes for London – emergency housing package

One of the recommended new town locations for which the government has shown early support is in Enfield, Greater London. However, London's housing crisis won't be solved by new towns alone and, with housebuilding starts at record lows, development in London needs urgent support. 

Recognising this, on 23 October 2025 Steve Reed, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government made a statement  in the House of Commons explaining a new package of emergency support to drive up housebuilding in London. This package was developed jointly by the government and the Mayor of Londonand was set out in full in a Policy Statement published on the same day. The government confirmed that four six-week consultations would be held in November 2025, following which the changes will be brought into effect through secondary legislation and London Plan Guidance (LPG).

These consultations were launched on 27 November 2025, one by the Mayor (see here) and another by MHCLG (see here). Together, the consultations cover four of the five measures announced as part of the emergency package: (i) temporary CIL relief; (ii) extended referral and call-in powers for the Mayor of London; (iii) a new time-limited planning route; and (iv) temporary changes to cycle parking, dual aspect and dwellings per core aspects of LPG. The fifth measure is a new City Hall Developer Investment Fund, to which the government is allocating £322 million from 2026-27 to enable the Mayor to further fund housebuilding. The terms of this programme are being established between the Greater London Authority and MHCLG.

It's encouraging to see the government acknowledge the challenges that housebuilding is facing in London. However, whilst temporary measures like potential CIL relief are to be welcomed, and the introduction of a time-limited planning route offers the promise of support, schemes will only be able to access them where they can commit to delivering the first ten per cent of homes as affordable homes without grant. They must go on to provide at least 20 per cent as affordable, and to do so in a limited timeframe. It remains to be seen how many schemes will actually find that percentage hurdle achievable and, particularly for those that really have the potential to shift the dial on housing delivery, it may well be challenging. Further, many developers may still point to an underlying lack of market demand also posing a challenge to scheme delivery. This makes an expectation that schemes build out promptly or face claw back proposals a commercial risk that they will need to grapple with. Developers should therefore take the opportunity to shape the technical detail of the proposals by responding to the consultations with their views, supported by evidence, of whether they will make the difference that the government and the GLA are hoping to achieve.

The consultations close on 22 January 2026. We have prepared a detailed briefing for clients on these proposals – please contact us if you are interested in receiving a copy.

Homes for asylum seekers – the Bell Hotel, Epping Forest

The use of hotels to accommodate asylum seekers hit the headlines in August 2025, when Epping Forest District Council took the government to court alleging planning breaches through a material change of use from hotel to sui generis use without the necessary consent. The council applied for an interim injunction to prevent continued use of the hotel pending the full hearing on the issue. Matthew White previously shared his thoughts on the decision of the High Court to grant the interim injunction (here) and the decision of the Court of Appeal to overturn it (here). The full hearing was held in October 2025, when the High Court was asked to grant a full injunction preventing the use of the hotel as accommodation for asylum seekers, and a declaration that such use did not fall within the bounds of Use Class C1 of the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987.

In Epping Forest District Council v Somani Hotels Ltd [2025] EWHC 2937 (KB), Mr Justice Mould refused to grant the application for full injunction, and also refused to give the requested declaration. Factors he took into account included that there had been a long history of communication between the council's planning team and the operator of the hotel regarding whether or not permission was required, the council did not raise planning impacts as a cause for concern when the government consulted them on renewed use of the hotel to accommodate asylum seekers earlier in 2025 and, despite this long history and many opportunities to do so, the council did not pursue any other form of enforcement action prior to seeking the injunction. Any planning harm relating to the hotel emanated not from the use of the hotel itself, but security fencing placed around it in response to street protests. The use of the hotel was also acknowledged to be temporary, and was providing the funds required to bring the hotel back into full time use as a normal hotel. And there were important countervailing factors, namely the statutory requirement for the government to comply with its obligations under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.

Where does this leave the issue? The situation remains that, whether there has been a change of use requiring planning permission needs to be assessed on a case-by-case basis, taking account of the specific facts, local planning policies and wider land use planning circumstances. This case highlights that, for an injunction to be granted, it will be important to demonstrate that clear planning and environmental harm will arise from the use of the land, that needs to be urgently restrained. Significant weight will also likely be given to the government's duties under the 1999 Act for as long as that need to accommodate asylum seekers remains pressing.

All in all, it will be a while before we see significant results towards building the 1.5 million homes that the government has committed to do, but important steps are being made. We look forward to 2026 with anticipation.