Housing is one of the central challenges facing the United Kingdom, with delivery continuing to fall short of what is required if the Government is to meet its ambition of building 1.5 million homes over the course of this Parliament. In England, net additional dwellings totalled just 208,600 in 2024–25. The outlook is equally concerning as the pipeline of future development weakens, with planning permission granted for only 209,781 homes in the year to September 2025 – the lowest rolling 12-month figure since 2013.
Under Conservative leadership, the West Midlands had been the only region on track to hit its housing target of 215,000 new homes by 2031. As of early 2024, the region also exceeded its target of 20% affordable homes, having delivered over 30% affordable new developments of those supported by the Combined Authority. However, the ambition for sustainable housing development in the West Midlands has been undermined by slow delivery in recent years. It is a region with strong underlying demand for housing, and benefits from considerable brownfield capacity and a track record of urban regeneration that has transformed Birmingham’s skyline over the past decade. Despite this record, there has been a visible decline in development activity, and where cranes once dominated the horizon, there are now far fewer active construction sites.
Prosper UK’s founding mission has been to take the conversation out of Westminster, listening to voters and businesses across the country and turning their ideas into practical, credible policy. On 16th March, we were in Birmingham, speaking to businesses and experts from across the West Midlands housing industry to listen to the challenges they face. This report sets out the ideas and solutions they identified. This is not necessarily the full picture but will play an important role in informing Prosper UK’s mission to develop evidence-based policy to deliver the homes we need and unlock growth across the United Kingdom.
Recommendations from Businesses in Birmingham
- Restore investor confidence by reducing planning uncertainty
- Ringfence and significantly increase funding for local planning departments
- Use technology, including AI, to streamline routine planning decisions
- Align taxation and regulatory policy with development viability, expanding resourcing and
- setting statutory timelines for BSA Gateway approvals
- Move to an income-linked definition of affordable housing
- Overhaul Section 106 to prioritise delivery of genuinely affordable homes
- Reintroduce targeted demand-side support, like Help to Buy, alongside supply reform
- Embed early community engagement in the planning process
- Reform planning committees to improve expertise and quality of decision-making
- Shift from deadline-driven plan-making to strategic placemaking that prioritises high
