Labour today unveiled a major overhaul of planning laws as part of their bid to ‘get Britain building’ and deliver 1.5 million new homes over the next five years.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill was among flagship legislation in the King’s Speech as Sir Keir Starmer‘s agenda was set out to Parliament.
The Government signalled their intent to remove the power from local residents to block new developments.
They warned their planning shake-up means communities will only be consulted on ‘how, not if’ homes and infrastructure are built.
Labour branded the current planning system a ‘major brake’ on economic growth and vowed to press ahead with reforms.
This was despite a senior minister this morning admitting the plans would prove ‘controversial in some areas’.
The Tories warned the Government is eyeing up ‘huge chunks’ of the protected green belt for future housebuilding.
They said Labour’s bid to reclassify some land as ‘grey belt’ was ‘nonsensical and shameless spin’.
Labour today unveiled a major overhaul of planning laws as part of their bid to ‘get Britain building’ and deliver 1.5 million new houses over the next five years
One of Sir Keir Starmer’s senior ministers admitted Labour’s plans would prove ‘controversial in some areas’
According to the Government, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will ‘accelerate housebuilding and infrastructure delivery’.
Their proposals include ‘modernising’ planning committees and increasing the capacity of local planning authorities.
The Bill also includes measures for ‘streamlining’ processes for delivering new infrastructure – such as roads, railways, and resevoirs – and overhauling compulsary purchase compensation rules.
It is expected that onshore wind farms, laboratories, and data centres will also be classed as nationally significant infrastructure.
Prior to the general election, Labour promised to update the National Policy Planning Framework (NPPF).
This is a 78-page document that sets out planning policies for England and how these should be applied.
In their manifesto, Labour said they would undo ‘damaging’ Tory changes to the NPPF – such as reversing the scrapping of mandatory local housebuilding targets for councils.
These were junked by the Tories in 2022, shortly after Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister, after dozens of Conservative MPs threatened a rebellion.
Since taking office, Labour have already acted to remove a de facto ban on new onshore wind farms in England that was previously set out in the NPPF.
As part of their planning shake-up, they have also vowed to take ‘tough action’ to ensure councils have up-to-date Local Plans.
They said they would strengthen the presumption in favour of sustainable development, and would ‘not be afraid to make full use of intervention powers’ to overrule local authorities in their bid to boost housebuilding.
It has been reported that new legal measures will force councils to quickly identify enough land to meet their predicted future housing needs.
Once that land has been identified, there will then be a presumption in favour of development, with local residents able to agree the style of new housing but not object to it being built.
Local councils that fail to produce timely plans will see ministers step in and impose house building blueprints on them, according to The Times.
Government sources told the newspaper that ministers intended to be ‘robust’ with any local authority that tried to delay implementing the new rules.
Labour’s plans could also include an enhanced role for new mayors in the planning process.
In their manifesto, Labour promised to supply councils with more funding for extra planning officers and pursue a ‘brownfield first approach’ to building new homes.
It is expected the recruitment drive will see 300 more planning officers, which will be funded by increasing the rate of the Stamp Duty surcharge paid by non-UK residents.
But Labour have warned a ‘brownfield first approach’ alone will not be enough to meet their housebuilding target.
They pledged to take a ‘more strategic approach’ to the designation of green belt land.
Labour are set to rebrand some of the green belt as ‘grey belt’ land, which they deem to be ‘lower quality’.
These are likely to be areas that are old car parks or wastelands, as well as some green spaces with ‘little intrinsic beauty or character’.
Tory MP Chris Philp, the shadow leader of the House of Commons, told Times Radio that Government plans to find what it calls ‘grey belt’ land to build on is ‘shameless spin’.
He said: ‘Obviously we accept and agree that more houses need to be built, but they need to be built in the right places.
‘For example, in my view, they should be built on brownfield sites in city centres, those kinds of places first looking at maybe new towns, but what we should not be doing is ripping up the green belt.’
Mr Philp added: ‘They are talking about huge chunks of the green belt, not the odd car park.
‘You can’t just suddenly claim that a whole load of green belt is now called the grey belt and it’s okay to build on it.
‘I mean, that’s just obviously a piece of nonsensical and shameless spin.’
Pat McFadden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, admitted Labour’s planning reforms ‘may be controversial in some places’ but said the party is ‘on the side of getting things built more quickly’.
Ahead of the King’s Speech, Mr McFadden told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘We were very clear during the election campaign that we would come out of this on the side of getting things built more quickly.
‘That may be controversial in some places, I’ve no doubt that it will be.
‘But it’s reasonable for people to expect that, if we said that during the campaign, it’s what they see when the King’s Speech is published later today.’