The three major parties have hit 2014 running with announcements on housing policy. With opinion polls showing housing is a key voter concern, one thing is clear: the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats all agree that the UK is facing a housing shortage. How to address the shortage, however, is shaping up to be a key electoral battleground. So, as the opening salvos of the 2015 election campaign are fired, what is being said on housing and what will the key themes be going into the election?

Conservatives

David Cameron’s commitment to building more homes was strengthened by his symbolic appointment in December 2013 of Alex Morton, the former head of housing and planning at the pro-Conservative think tank Policy Exchange. Among the policies supported by Morton are the creation of new garden cities and an increase in custom-build housing. Morton has also argued for 1.5 million new homes to be built from 2015-2020, a higher figure than Labour is proposing. Morton is writing the housing section of the Conservative’s 2015 manifesto, so his ideas will no doubt form part of the Conservative’s election pitch.

On the ground, Conservative MPs and Councillors who campaigned during the 2010 General Election on a Localism agenda are feeling let down by the apparent return of ‘planning by appeal’. In some cases this has led to the eruption of toxic political rows between local councils and planning inspectors.

The root of the issue is the fact that the planning process is often masqueraded as technical one, when in reality it is a political process. The challenge here for David Cameron is to deliver a politically attractive form of development. This could prove challenging. Last week Nadhim Zahawi, an influential Conservative backbencher and member of David Cameron’s policy board, riled number 10 with his claim that “rapacious developers” are causing “physical harm” to the countryside. Similar conflicts between Cameron and his backbenchers are likely in the run up to 2015.

In London, Boris Johnson pledged in 2013 to build a minimum of 42,000 new homes per year, over the next ten years – double the number built in the capital in 2012. To deliver this, the Mayor is establishing Opportunity Areas and working closely with London boroughs and partner agencies to free up land for development. On Thursday 16 January the Mayor announced a further four Opportunity Areas in the London Boroughs of Southwark, Bromley and Harrow, which he hopes will help deliver a further 11,100 new homes.

Finally, Johnson continues to seek further concessions from the Treasury for the capital to retain stamp duty on all property sales in the city, as well as to enable London boroughs more freedom to build homes, including by removing councils’ borrowing limits so they can increase investment in housing.

Labour

Ed Miliband’s electoral mantra is that the UK is facing a “cost of living crisis”, with the cost of housing driving the crisis. Miliband has already identified housing as a key issue – a cornerstone of Miliband’s 2013 party conference speech was his pledge to build 200,000 homes per year up to 2020. Sir Michael Lyons is carrying out a review on how this figure will be achieved – this will certainly be one to look out for when it is published this autumn. It is worth noting that Mark Clare, the Chief Executive of Barratt Developments, has suggested that Labour’s target of 200,000 is not high enough.

January 2014 has seen a flurry of Labour activity on housing. On Monday 13 January Emma Reynolds MP, in her first major speech since becoming Shadow Minister for Housing last October, told the National House-Building Council that "an army of smaller firms and custom builders" will be essential in delivering the required number of homes. This, Reynolds argues, would drive up competition and improve the quality of new homes, particularly by increasing their size.

At this week’s Prime Minister’s Questions, Ed Miliband raised his “use it or lose it” policy. Under a Labour government, local authorities, as a last resort, would have the power to issue Compulsory Purchase Orders to developers that own land with planning permission but don’t build. While a bold policy, there will undoubtedly be a number of questions on its practicality in the build-up to the election.

Liberal Democrats

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is an enthusiastic supporter of garden cities and has called for new settlements to be built in Buckinghamshire, Warwickshire and Oxfordshire.

The Liberal Democrats will likely use housing policy as a stick to beat their Conservative Coalition partners with in the run up to the election. The ones to watch will be Vince Cable, the Secretary of State for Business, and Tim Farron, the President of the Liberal Democrats. Both have already criticised the government’s housing policy – Vince Cable has cautioned against a Help to Buy-induced housing bubble and Tim Farron has accused the government of supressing a politically-sensitive report believed to recommend two new garden cities in Oxfordshire and Berkshire.

Summary

It is clear that all three main parties see housing as the key to reaching out to the “squeezed middle” or “hard working people” who will determine the election. We can expect a slew of new announcements in the run up to the election and only time will tell how effective these will be.

Christian Cosby joined the Iceni Engagement Team in January 2014 as a Junior Consultant.