Burnham Pledges 'Biggest Council Housebuilding Programme Since the Post-War Period'

Andy Burnham has used his first major national policy address to promise the largest council housebuilding effort in generations, placing social and council housing back at the centre of the political debate. The speech, delivered in Manchester and setting out a vision for a 'Number 10 North' office, has drawn significant attention across the property and development sectors, coming at a moment of political change and renewed focus on how Britain funds and delivers affordable homes. ## What Burnham announced

Speaking in Manchester, the Greater Manchester mayor set out plans for a proposed 'Number 10 North', an extension of the prime minister's office based in the city. He said it would be responsible for regeneration, reindustrialisation and reform of essential utilities, alongside housing delivery.

The housing pledge was the centrepiece. Burnham committed to a large-scale programme delivered through devolved regions and local leaders rather than central government departments, using vacant public land to help reduce construction costs.

• • A 'Number 10 North' office based in Manchester to coordinate regeneration and delivery.
• • The biggest council housebuilding programme since the post-war period.
• • Higher-density residential development in town centres, intended to protect green space.
• • Delivery routed through combined and local authorities rather than Whitehall departments.

Britain has lost almost 1.5 million council homes since the 1980s and around the same number of people are now on housing waiting lists.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, 2026

The scale of the problem he set out

Burnham framed the crisis in terms of long-term losses to the social housing stock. He argued that governments are forced to chase private rents through the benefits system, and that freezing support such as Local Housing Allowance can push families into homelessness and load unfunded temporary accommodation costs onto councils.

The programme draws on work begun in Greater Manchester, where a Housing First Unit was established in 2024. Its research found that the region's ten councils were spending a significant sum each year on temporary accommodation, prompting a shift towards prevention and direct provision.

What it builds on in Greater Manchester

The national ambition extends a platform Burnham had already set out locally. Greater Manchester has committed to 10,000 new council homes by 2028, with at least 1,000 in each of its ten boroughs, delivered through the Housing First Unit and identified brownfield and public-body land.

Burnham has also asked government to devolve powers so mayors can suspend Right to Buy on new-build council homes and in areas of greatest housing need, arguing that building new homes while losing them to sales undermines efforts to close the gap.

The reaction and the open questions

Sector figures broadly welcomed a renewed focus on housing while cautioning on delivery. Commentators noted that success would depend on addressing the viability challenges that have stalled building activity, on adequate resourcing for local and regional authorities, and on how any programme would be funded within existing fiscal constraints.

Crucially, detail on funding mechanisms was not disclosed. Metro mayors can coordinate land, investment and local housing strategy, but they do not control national housing rules, the Right to Buy regime or the location of central government itself, which leaves significant questions about how a national programme would be resourced and governed.

For investors and developers, the significance lies less in the immediate detail, which remains thin, and more in the political direction of travel: a serious push towards council-led delivery, devolved decision-making and the use of public land and higher-density town-centre schemes. Whether this becomes a funded national programme or remains a regional model will shape the affordable and social housing landscape for years. Silkwood will continue to track how these policy signals translate into deliverable schemes on the ground.

Sources

• • Housing Today, 'Burnham pledges biggest council housebuilding programme since the post-war period'
• • The Developer, 'Andy Burnham pledges biggest council housing building programme since post-war period'
• • PropertyWire, 'Burnham proposes major council housebuilding programme'
• • Greater Manchester Combined Authority, 'Andy Burnham pledges 10,000 new council homes by 2028'