22 September 2025
David Smith featured in property press on new planning stats
The government’s goal to build 1.5 million new homes in England over the next five years is facing scrutiny. Property Litigation Partner David Smith is quoted in two property trade publications, commenting on the lack of progress around house building.
David says: “The government have had a year to make improvements to house building and have not made any progress. Despite promises from the new Housing Secretary there is little chance that they will meet their commitment to build 1.5million houses in this Parliament. The only question now is by how much that target will be missed.”
New figures revealed a 5% drop in planning applications and a 1% decrease in decisions between April and June 2025.
In response, Housing Secretary Steve Reed has announced a new building acceleration package aimed at speeding up house building and tackling these "unacceptable" figures.
Read David’s comments:
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