Chancellor sets out plans to reduce environmental requirements to get ‘things built and stop worrying about bats’

Planning reform

 

The chancellor announced in her speech that the government will also introduce a new approach to planning decisions on land around train stations, changing the default answer to ‘yes’. This forms part of the planning reforms the government set out last week, as part of its upcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

 

In the announcements, the government also revealed proposals to streamline a set of national policies for decision making to guide planning decisions taken by local authorities and promote housebuilding in key areas.

 

“To build our new infrastructure like nuclear power plants, trainlines and windfarms more quickly we are changing the rules to stop blockers getting in the way of development through excessive use of judicial review,” Ms Reeves said in the speech.

 

Ms Reeves highlighted the action that the government has been taking on planning, such as determining 13 major planning decisions in six months, including for major housing developments, airports and data centres.   

 

She said that the government has “significantly raised” housing targets across the country and made them mandatory, in order to build 1.5 million homes over this term of parliament.

 

Ms Reeves added that the government has reformed green belt policies, “making it easier to build on the grey belt land around our major cities”.

 

“To get Britain building again we have delivered the most significant reforms to our planning system in a generation,” she said.

 

Infrastructure Strategy and devolution

 

Ms Reeves said that in the spring, the government will also publish the Spending Review and a 10-year Infrastructure Strategy, which will set out further detail of plans for infrastructure across the UK. 

 

She said that new transport infrastructure can “act as a catalyst for new housing”.

 

“We have already seen the benefits that unlocking untapped land around stations can deliver in places like Stockport where joint work spearheaded by Andy Burnham and council leaders has delivered new housing and wider commercial opportunities,” Ms Reeves said.

 

The chancellor said that central government is working with devolved governments to ensure the benefits of growth can be felt across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This includes by partnering with them on the Industrial Strategy to support their “considerable sectoral strengths”, Ms Reeves added.

 

She said that the National Wealth Fund is establishing strategic partnerships to provide “deeper, more focused support” for city regions, starting in Glasgow, West Yorkshire, the West Midlands and Greater Manchester. 

 

“We are supporting key investment opportunities across the UK,” Ms Reeves said.

Pensions reform

 

Ms Reeves said the consultation on creating larger consolidated pension funds is complete and the final report will be published in the spring.

 

In November, the chancellor unveiled the plans to create “pension megafunds” by pooling assets from the Local Government Pension Scheme in a bid to unlock around £80bn of investment in infrastructure, including housing.

 

In her speech yesterday, Ms Reeves said the government has “plans to go further, whilst always protecting the important role that pension funds play in the gilt market”. 

 

“We will introduce new flexibilities for well-funded defined benefit schemes to release surplus funds where it is safe to do so, generating even more investment into some of our fastest growing industries,” she said.

 

Sector reaction

 

John Gregory, partner and specialist planning lawyer at Weightmans, said that the government’s latest announcements continue to "show plenty of ambition”. But he added “a balance will need to be struck” between boosting the development industry and protecting the environment.

 

“Issues such as nutrient neutrality are undoubtedly a real barrier to development but site-specific protection for protected species, for example, is often necessary to protect local habitats and can be overcome fairly easily with the right mitigation,” Mr Gregory said.

 

“Removing these site-specific safeguards altogether is perhaps not the answer and, like her support for major developments such as the third runway for Heathrow, is likely to cause consternation within her own party.”

 

Amanda Williams, chief investment officer at Aster Group, welcomed the plans to unlock brownfield land around railway stations as “a positive example of the government thinking innovatively” about how to do that.

 

“It’s clear the chancellor recognises the challenges that have hampered homebuilding in the past, and any efforts to transform the planning system and land availability are welcome,” she said.

 

“But it’s important to make sure affordable homes are baked into these plans – particularly when we know demand is so acute. We know from experience that brownfield sites can prove to be more costly and complex to remediate, so viability challenges could make committing to delivering affordable homes even harder.”

Ms Williams said that underpinning any of these changes is the commitment in terms of financial backing to the housing sector.

 

“Looking ahead to the Spending Review, it would be encouraging to see the Affordable Homes Programme, Housing Infrastructure Fund and brownfield funds strengthened to make sure affordable housing delivery is viable,” she said.

 

Fiona Fletcher-Smith, chair of the G15 and chief executive of L&Q, said that the chancellor’s speech on growth correctly identified new infrastructure, and new homes to tackle a lack of affordable housing, as key to improving living standards across the country.

 

“New social housing is a long-term public good and new social homes provide huge benefit to the economy and those who live in them,” she said.

 

“We know that new social tenancies for the more than 300,000 households on London’s social housing waiting list would inject at least an additional £7.7bn a year into London and the UK’s economy.

 

“The Treasury must now shift its outlook and think of building social housing as something which contributes to our national infrastructure and supports growth rather than adding to national debt.”

 

Alistair Smyth, director of policy and research at the National Housing Federation, said it was encouraging to hear the chancellor emphasise the importance of removing the barriers to building new homes.

 

“Reforms to the planning system and mandatory housing targets will help speed up the delivery of new homes, and we look forward to working closely with the government on its Planning and Infrastructure Bill,” he said. “To build the affordable homes needed across the country, the social housing sector needs a package of support measures at the next Spending Review alongside funding for social housing, to help rebuild capacity after decades of cuts and as part of a strategic, long-term housing strategy.”