UK commits to regulator's proposals to improve housebuilding

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's new Labour government said on Tuesday it had accepted proposals from the country's competition watchdog to improve the quality of homes being built.

In February, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the housebuilding sector needed "significant intervention" and raised concerns about the quality of some new housing, following a year-long probe.

It proposed that the government should streamline what developers often said was a complex planning system, in order to fix Britain's chronic housing shortage that has driven up prices.

Housing minister Matthew Pennycook said the CMA was right to highlight the areas for improvement, and that the government would work to address the regulator's 11 recommendations.

"We will empower homeowners to challenge developers over poor quality new homes and bad service," Pennycook said.

"Alongside this, our updated National Planning Policy Framework and the reinstatement of mandatory housing targets for councils will ensure communities have the homes and necessary infrastructure to thrive."

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose Labour Party came to power after a landslide election victory in July, has set mandatory housing targets and announced planning reforms as part of a push to speed up economic growth.

Labour plans to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years, with an aim to deliver 370,000 new houses across the United Kingdom annually, up from a previous target of 300,000 that was abandoned by the previous Conservative government.

(Reporting by Suban Abdulla; Editing by Sachin Ravikumar)

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