Written by Andrew Clark
Following Labour’s seismic win last week of a 174-seat majority, it has been a fast start at Number 10. Keir Starmer quickly appointed his Cabinet, in which there were few surprises as most picked up their former Shadow roles in Government.
Most interestingly, Angela Rayner is now both Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (formerly Levelling Up which has been dropped). Alongside her, Matthew Pennycook has been appointed Housing Minister, Jim McMohan has been appointed Local Government Minister, Alex Norris as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, and Rushanara Ali MP as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State. With many appointments still to be made, we’ll be taking a comprehensive look at the list to provide further insight once everything is finalised.
Labour has also been quick out the blocks to announce key policies that were in their manifesto from Miliband announcing the end on the ban on onshore wind farms to scrapping the Rwanda deportation policy. These series of announcements have also included the new Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves putting forward Labour’s proposals for planning reform.
Less red tape, more real estate
In her speech, attended by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Angela Rayner and the Business Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, Reeves re-affirmed Labour’s commitment to unblocking the planning system and supporting the development sector to ensure ‘economic stability and growth’.
Reeves was clear the solution was not simple, emphasising the need to make quick progress on the issue. She stated that Labour would act to ensure immediate progress is made with bringing development forward, reaffirming that housing targets would be reinstated immediately alongside the promotion of tens of thousands of homes which could be unlocked with government support.
No to NIMBYs
While it is not clear exactly how housing targets will be administered and what happens to Local Authorities who will not play ball, the underlying message is crystal clear: inaction is not acceptable.
When asked: “Are you declaring war on NIMBYs?”, Reeves responded that in the first instance, it will be up to local communities to decide where homes can be built. But the answer “cannot always be no. If it is always no, the status quo will continue”, with the party unwilling to tolerate inaction.
It remains to be seen how strong the Labour Government will be in breaking the status quo, but early signs are positive.
Already, Reeves highlighted two immediate decisions taken by Angela Rayner – she has already moved to recover two refused data centre developments, located in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. In both cases applications were refused locally and at then again at appeal. Rayner’s decision to recover these schemes on day one suggests Labour will not limit themselves to upcoming and future decisions but are willing to revive refused schemes, from 2022 in this case, and breathe new life into them.
In her capacity as the newly renamed Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Rayner has written to all Metro Mayors and Council leaders asking them to highlight major development opportunities that need her attention. Rayner has also warned council leaders that emerging policy, including housing targets and NPPF changes, will need to be factored into their local planning process.
The NPPF
Ahead of Reeves’ speech, Labour made the first of what will likely be several interventions into the NPPF process.
The party announced that a draft NPPF will be published ahead of the summer Parliamentary recess. This seems like a Herculean task, but the Civil Service will have been working on building Labour’s manifesto commitments into a revised NPPF for several months, anticipating the election result.
Labour has already made changes to the NPPF guidance regarding onshore wind turbines. The NPPF previously noted that wind turbines could not be built where there was local opposition. This effectively banned all onshore turbines. Labour have unilaterally removed this footnote from the draft NPPF meaning Wind turbines will now be treated like any other infrastructure project.
This move is effectively an executive decision taken at a ministerial level, which will be rubber-stamped by Parliament. With Labour already wasting no time to set the stage ahead of Parliament’s return, we can only expect to see more of these kinds of changes in the near future.
