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Widen the Scope of the Social Housing Bill
In recent weeks, the Prime Minister has been honest about the wrong turns this country took in the 1980s. The expansion of the Right to Buy (RtB) Scheme and failure to replace the 1.5 million council homes subsequently lost ranks high among them.
So when I spoke in Parliament last Thursday, I welcomed the fact that the Social Housing Bill [Lords] finally starts to turn the tide.
Extending the qualifying period for RtB, tapering the discount, and exempting newly built social homes for 35 years are all sensible, proportionate measures. Similarly, protections for tenants experiencing domestic abuse are long-overdue and an area where the whole House rightly finds common ground.
However, for the 1,300 households on the Common Housing Register across West Berkshire and over 1.3 million waiting for a social home across England, the Bill’s scope remains too narrow.
It makes constructive strides in protecting what exists, but does too little to build what we still don’t have.
Over the past five years, an average of just 1,320 social rent homes have been built by councils in England each year. At this rate, Shelter estimates it would take a startling 119 years to clear existing social housing waiting lists.
To deliver the affordable homes Newbury families need, greater powers and resources must be given to councils and housing associations to build at scale, while placing local communities at the heart of decision making.
This is particularly important in West Berkshire. The council holds no housing stock of its own, with every social home owned and managed by a housing association. It’s crucial we protect the little social housing stock we have, so as I made clear during my speech, simply notifying the council that a social home is being sold is not enough.
Local authorities should know why a home is being sold and have a clear plan for how, when, and where it will be replaced locally. Where replacement is not possible, there should be a financial contribution towards funding new housing.
The Government have introduced some important measures, but without more ambitious change, the scourge of temporary accommodation and unaffordable housing will continue to limit opportunities and hold far too many people back.
As the Bill progresses through the House, I will keep working with colleagues to plug the gaps and ensure this important piece of legislation provides the safe, secure, and affordable homes families across Newbury and West Berkshire need.
Link to the full Hansard debate: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2026-09-10/debates/5AF2599A-D2BC-465C-AB4D-AF62826EC2E8/details#contribution-CC9CA2F3-576B-4AAA-8492-FBC4D6A28F86
