Key points:

  • Reintroduction of mandatory housing targets.
  • Presumption in favour of development.
  • Renationalisation of railways.
  • Will Great British Energy lead the charge in new renewable energy?
  • More powers for Mayors and local leaders.
  • Better protections for renters and a ban on new leasehold properties.

The first King’s Speech of the new Labour Government, setting out the legislative priorities for the year ahead in Parliament. It’s a whistle stop tour (taking the King just 12 minutes and 44 seconds to outline 40 new bills) of the new Government’s key priorities, but we have known for some time that many of Labour’s flagship manifesto promises would be included within this King’s Speech.

Of course, even with a sizeable majority in the House of Commons, not all of what has been announced in the King’s Speech will be passed into law within the next year, but it’s a clear indication of the direction that this Government will be taking, with the Prime Minister stating his intention to “take the brakes off Britain”.

Housing and planning

Getting Britain building again was a key pillar of the Labour Party’s manifesto during the General Election campaign, as such the built environment featured prominently in the King’s Speech, including the anticipated Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

Alongside reforms to ban new leasehold properties and provide greater protection for tenants, including ending no fault evictions, which will come forward in the Draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill, whilst the reforms to planning are no less significant.

“My ministers will get Britain building, including through planning reform, as they seek to accelerate the delivery of high-quality infrastructure and housing.”

The acceleration of housebuilding has been a key pledge of the new Government and whilst the King’s Speech lacked detail on how this will be achieved, we know that much of this will be through the reintroduction of mandatory housing targets and reform to the National Planning Policy Framework – essentially reversing changes made by the Conservatives that ultimately hampered delivery.

Housebuilding targets will be imposed on local authorities that do not produce local plans to hit their existing targets. Most significant is presumption in favour of development, with consultation on “how” new homes will be built rather than “if”.

Alongside this, nutrient neutrality issues are holding up many new housing developments across the country and without significant work to tackle this issue many local councils may be penalised for failing to deliver enough housing in their areas through no fault of their own. Canterbury City Council being a case in point, with circa 7,000 new homes in limbo across the district due to concerns over nutrient neutrality in relation to Stodmarsh Nature Reserve.

Whilst the announcements within the King’s Speech will be welcome news to the built environment sector, which is keen help to deliver the 1.5million new homes the Government wants over the next 5 years, as always, the devil will be in the detail.

Transport

The creation of Great British Railways, a new body which will manage both the railway infrastructure and trains, taking on the responsibilities of Network Rail and private operators once their franchises expire, will focus on saving money in the long term and result in a more simplified service for rail users. The introduction of new powers for regional authorities to set timetables and fares for buses in their areas, including the power to award franchises, is a step further towards devolution (see below).

Energy

A new national energy company, Great British Energy, will be established to invest in renewable energy and eliminate non-renewable power generation by 2030, funded to the tune of £8.3billion over the next five years. However, it is important to note that it will not supply energy to households but instead ensure that new renewable technologies are invested in alongside the delivery of tried and tested renewables to drive forward to push towards net-zero.

Will Great British Energy help to get more onshore wind farms built alongside more experimental renewable generation? Of course, an integral part of the delivery of more renewable energy generation will be securing the necessary planning consent and the recent overturning of refusals for three large scale solar farms in England by the new Secretary of State, Ed Miliband, in the past week is perhaps a sign that the Government will keep to its word.

Devolution

In one of the most significant changes to devolved powers to the regions since the creation of regional mayors, it appears that combined authority mayors will soon have a more enhanced role in the planning process, delivering spatial plans and being tasked with identifying the most promising sites for development in their areas. Alongside this will be increased the powers for directly elected Mayors to include transport, skills, housing and employment schemes. Whilst Combined Authority Mayors already exercise powers of strategic oversight for some of these areas, particularly transport and housing, giving them direct control over delivery this will strip away some of the confusing levels of bureaucracy that the average member of the public seldom understands.

The Deputy Prime Minister has promised “the most ambitious programme of devolution this country has ever seen” and whilst areas won’t be forced to have a Metro Mayor, they will be lured by the emerging incentives. Local Government has always been a mix of varying local authorities with varying powers (unitary, district, borough, parish and combined authorities) and whilst there is no sign of that changing for the time being, it is certain that the sector will continue to have strong voices to advocate on its behalf – including Councillor Clair Holland, Leader of Lambeth Council and new Chair of London Councils, who  replaces the former Leader of Camden Council and now MP for Queen’s Park and Maida Vale, Georgia Gould.

So will this lead to growth, growth, growth?

The announcements today in the King’s Speech will certainly be welcome news to the built environment sector and I don’t think anyone can argue that the Government aren’t serious about delivering more homes and critical infrastructure particularly to deliver the growth the country desperately needs.

However, the industry requires certainty over how these promises will be met. There continues to be very little clarification on how many social homes will be delivered out of the 1.5million new homes that have been promised or even how they will be built. It will be interesting to see if the expansion of powers to Mayors results in them also taking responsibility for building more social homes in their areas, many of which have some of the most acute social housing shortages.

Of course, we will now have to wait and see what detail comes out as many of these new bills are introduced to the House of Commons.