Growing up in Milton Keynes, I saw firsthand how planning with purpose transforms lives. My hometown wasn’t built by accident; it was designed with ambition, shaped by Labour values, and delivered at scale. We didn’t just build houses. We built communities, infrastructure, and opportunity.
Now, as the newly elected MP for Milton Keynes North and Co-Chair of the Labour Growth Group, I know our country desperately needs that same spirit again. And I believe one of the most overlooked keys to unlocking it is to back small and medium-sized (SME) housebuilders.
For too long, our housing system has tilted towards a handful of large developers. They build slowly, limit competition, and can’t fix our skills shortages alone. Meanwhile, SME builders, once responsible for 40% of homes built in this country, have been squeezed out by our planning system. Unlike the big builders, they don’t have the money in the bank to take risks on planning, where they will likely face delays, costly appeals, or an arbitrary refusal. Today, just 10% of new homes are built by SME builders. That’s not just bad for housing. It’s bad for growth, for jobs, and for fairness.
The SME Housebuilders APPG, of which I am a member, aims to support these businesses and organisations. When speaking with the SMEs themselves, we found some shocking results. A remarkable 94% of SMEs surveyed said that planning issues caused them major or significant issues and 61% viewing a lack of suitable sites as a major or significant issue. A Labour Government can fix that, the new £16bn National Housing Bank announced can help SMEs build out their pipeline faster through revolving credit facilities and underwriting loans to help unlock private sector money for otherwise unviable sites. Indeed, we as a Labour Government are already on the front foot; pledging to reform planning, recruit more planners, and restore housing targets. These are vital steps. But if we want to deliver 1.5 million homes over five years, we can’t rely on the same small group of volume developers to do all the work. We need a more competitive, dynamic system and that means empowering SMEs.
We can:
We should also consider how the New Towns Taskforce can support SME builders. When Milton Keynes was first planned, specific sites were set aside for SMEs to help grow the industry and ensure greater variety in the new development. As we plan the next generation of New Towns, this is an idea worth revisiting.
This agenda matters to me not just because I believe in building but because I believe in where and how we build. Milton Keynes was designed for families like mine to thrive. We had a proper home, green space, good schools, and decent public transport. It worked because the planning was joined-up and because the political will was there.
Today, too many young people in places like ours are stuck living with parents, paying through the nose in the private rented sector, or forced to leave their communities altogether. That’s not just a housing crisis; it’s an intergenerational injustice. And there is no way we can build enough new homes to fix it without a thriving SME sector.
Whether it’s builders in Wolverhampton, brickies in Bolton or architects in Aylesbury, SMEs have the skills and the will to get Britain building again. But they need a government that has their back. We must be bold not just in how much we build, but in who we empower to build it. We can’t tackle a housing crisis caused by supply side oligopoly, preventing SMEs from competing effectively, inertia, and more of the same.
So, let’s build that future, back SMEs, and get Britain building again.
For more on how Labour innovate to deliver it’s ambitious agenda see From Instruction to Innovation: Delivering Labour’s Five Missions in 2025.
