What does it mean for the built environment and will it lead to an increase in house building?

Key points in the Bill:

  • ‘Biggest building boom in a generation’: The bill is designed to fast-track the construction of homes and key infrastructure projects.
  • Streamlined Planning Committees: A national scheme will delegate certain planning applications to officers instead of committees, speeding up decision-making. This could lead to quicker approvals for housing projects.
  • Local control of planning fees: Councils will be able to set their own planning fees, and the revenue generated will be reinvested back into the system to improve its efficiency.
  • End to large committees and introduce mandatory training: The bill proposes an end to larger planning committees and introduction of mandatory training for members. However, this has been the case in the past and members experience has been varied depending on local authority.
  • Launch a Nature Restoration Fund: This fund aims to help developers meet environmental obligations more quickly, preventing delays due to environmental concerns in housing developments.
  • Strengthened Development Corporations: The bill will make it easier for large-scale development to be delivered by strengthening Development Corporations.
  • Streamlined consultations for infrastructure projects: Requirements for consultations on projects like wind farms, roads and railways will be simplified. The bill also ensures national policies are updated every five years, providing clearer guidance on government priorities.
  • Reducing bureaucracy for transport projects: The government believes changes to the Highways Act and Transport and Works Act will reduce bureaucracy, allowing transport projects to progress more quickly.
  • Overhauling the challenge process for major projects: The bill will change how major infrastructure projects can be challenged, likely reducing delays caused by legal challenges.
  • Prioritising wind and solar for grid connections: A ‘first ready, first connected’ system will prioritise wind and solar power for grid connections, potentially supporting the energy needs of new housing.
  • Compensation for pylon proximity: People living within 500 meters of new pylons will get up to £2,500 off their electricity bills over 10 years, potentially easing local opposition to energy infrastructure projects.

Opposition is easy, governing is hard
While these ideas might sound great in theory, I can’t help but feel like we’ve been here before. During the last Parliament, the then-Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick pushed for a major shake-up of the planning system, introducing a zoning model. Land would have been divided into three categories: growth, renewal, and protection. In the ‘growth’ category, development would have been automatically approved, while in ‘renewal,’ sites would get permission in principle.

As we have seen recently with this Government’s plans for welfare reform, there is the risk that backbench Labour MPs, particularly those in rural seats with razor-thin majorities, will resist, leading to a watering down of the reforms.

While Labour may have a significant majority in Parliament, they are also the largest party in local government for now, and local councillors are unlikely to let themselves be sidelined when it comes to key decisions on planning. Meanwhile, the Conservatives are already accusing Labour of ‘silencing’ local councillors, perhaps a sign of tensions to come between national and local government.

The reduction in the size of planning committees and the increased delegation of decisions to officers for certain applications could result in a further breakdown of trust between local and national government. In some cases, this shift could push more local authorities down the path of Uttlesford District Council, which is currently under independent control. The Council has been stripped of its powers to determine larger planning applications after the government deemed it was “refusing too many proposals” and “not adequately performing” in terms of planning decisions. The removal of councillors’ ability to decide on larger-scale applications could also lead to tensions within communities, who might feel that development is being “thrust upon them” without the ability to hold decision-makers accountable.

The ambition to make it easier for new energy projects to connect to the grid is exciting and has the potential to help deliver the clean energy revolution. Alongside this, it curtails the potential for frivolous challenges to major infrastructure projects – a case in point being Uttlesford District Council’s past attempts to revoke consent for Stansted Airport expansion. If that is achieved, we may start to see the growth that this government has been promising to deliver.

With the bill now making its way through Parliament, the fight at a local and national level is far from over.