Labour’s planning reforms are working, but time and circumstances are against them

Bashing this Labour Government has become something of a national pastime, like complaining about the weather. I’ve done a bit of this myself, and it’s easy enough to point to things that have been uninspiring, disappointing, half-a-loaf or half-baked – as with any government.

But it’s worth taking a moment to stand back and acknowledge that Labour’s planning reforms are beginning to work, and in time could prove genuinely consequential.

The problem, of course, is that time is not a luxury this Government enjoys.

The public are fed up and impatient for change, which they hoped would arrive on day one. The UK’s problems, however, are structural, deep-rooted, expensive and will take years or decades to turn around, and there’s no money left. Quick fixes, then, are not available, and arguably decades of quick fixes for easy political wins are part of why the UK is in the mess it’s in.

With the public mood one of decline, despair, and (increasingly) anger, a ‘decade of renewal’ is not what people wanted to hear, especially as they feel themselves getting poorer, and now the Government finds itself historically unpopular.

This can be seen clearly in housing and planning policy.

The Government reversed Gove’s disastrous changes to the NPPF, but the damage caused by Truss to the economy meant bigger interventions were needed. It has now passed the Planning and Infrastructure Bill and is moving quickly on Local Government Reorganisation and Devolution. Most recently the emergency package for London was announced and later this year a further revised NPPF will tilt the balance even further in favour of housebuilding. There is increased grant funding for affordable homes, and, perhaps most importantly, Labour has implemented the Grey Belt policy. 

To be fair to Labour then, they picked a side on housebuilding, identifying NIMBY local councils as the blocker, housebuilders as the answer, 1.5m homes as the target and planning reform as the solution. They accepted that central Government would have to take responsibility for getting things moving, strengthening the role of the Planning Inspectorate and empowering MHCLG (and the GLA in London) to be more interventionist.

Events, however, are not going their way. It’s easy to forget that things were looking a little brighter at the start of the year, and recent figures show the economy was growing in Q1, before the conflict in Iran worsened the economic outlook. The emergency measures in London arrived just as global events were dealing yet another blow to housebuilders, and now the local elections are looming.

Grey Belt policy, in particular, has been significant and transformative. Whilst London continues to struggle, there are signs of vitality elsewhere across England. Indeed, one of the clearest signs that the policy is having an effect is the backlash now building against it. The Conservatives have already pledged to scrap what they call the “nonsense” policy, while MPs and councillors decry the impact in their areas: more applications, successful appeals and consents granted.

One example from last week was the announcement by Cotswold District Council that it was withdrawing from contesting an appeal on an application for 195 homes in Moreton-in-Marsh, having received advice that there was a significant risk of losing with costs. The Leader there stated, “This is not about a lack of resolve at a local level…. This is about a planning system that is now deliberately set up to favour housing development, almost regardless of local concerns…. The focus now remains on progressing a sound Local Plan – the only realistic route to regaining control over where and how development takes place”.

Quite right too.

The council statement reported in the local paper concluded that, where it is no longer possible to challenge proposals, it will focus on securing the best possible outcomes for the community. The penny appears to have dropped, in the Cotswolds at least.

That is the real shift here. Recent policy changes have centralised decision-making in Westminster and Whitehall, at the expense of local authority discretion. That is inevitably provoking a backlash, amplified by opposition parties, and felt most sharply in communities that believe their views are being overridden. PINS is busy, not only allowing applicants’ appeals on grey belt proposals but defending those decisions in the High Court too. It has become the bogeyman of amenity groups and parish councils, and the wider fight over the Green Belt may only just be beginning.

That is the “so what” in all this.

Labour may have made it easier, in policy terms, for builders to build. But in a more volatile and interventionist environment, getting schemes over the line will increasingly depend on how well they are positioned politically, how effectively communities are engaged, and how clearly the local case for growth is made.

With Labour sticking its neck out on housing, opposition parties are attempting to lop it off. Anti-development politics feature prominently across opposition platforms. The Greens are proposing rent controls, the Lib Dems a “GP guarantee” on all new developments. The polls suggest time is almost up for many Labour run Councils and it appears to be running out on this Government.

That means the clock is ticking for developers too.

With the new NPPF due to be implemented in the autumn, there may only be around 36 months before the next general election. That is not long. In a sulphurous political climate, more focused on how to divide a shrinking pie than growing it, we may look back on this as a brief period in which a government genuinely tried to increase housing supply, and one in which those moved early and engaged well had the best chance of success.

For anyone promoting a scheme in a politically sensitive area, now is the time to align planning, stakeholder engagement and public consultation. If that conversation is on your agenda, I’d be very happy to talk.

 Rhys Williams